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THE 

Dwellers  inj'ale  Siiiiiise 

How  They  Got  Together 

AND  Lived  Happy 

Ever  After 

A  Seqltel  to  "The  Natural  Man" 

Being  an  Account 

OF  the  Tribes  of  Him 

BY 

J.  WM.  \AA)Yi) 

Price  $i.oo,  Postpaid 

Published  by  The  Ariel  Press 

West  WOOD  Mass. 

1904 


Copyright,  1904,  by  J.  Wm.  Lloyd. 


The 
Dwellers 

In 

Vale   Sunrise 


'*//  -IV ill   be  a  marvellous  thing — the  true 
personality  of  man  —  when  we  see  it.     It  will 
grow  naturally  and  simply.,   flower-like.^  as  a 
tree  grows.      It  will  not  be  at  discord    .    .    . 
It  will  not  be  always  meddling  with  others  or 
asking   them    to    be    like  itself.     It  will  love 
them  becazise  they  will  be  different.    And  yet., 
while  it  will  not  ??ieddle  with  others  it  will 
help  all.,  as  a  beautiful  thing  helps  us  by  be- 
ing what  it  is.    .    .    It  will  be  as  wonderftil 
as  the  personality  of  a  child    .     .     .     Is  this 
Utopian?   A  map  of  the  world  that  does  not 
include  Utopia  is  not  worth  even  glancing  at 
for  it    leaves  out    the   one    country  at   which 
humanity  is  always  la?iding.     And  when  hu- 
manity lands  there  it  looks  out.,  and  seci?ig  a 
better  coiaitry  sets  sail.     Progress  is  the  real- 
ization of  Utopias'' — Oscar  Wilde. 


THE  TRIBES  OF  THE  NATURAL 


CHAPTER  I 


HE  traveller  picked  his 
breakfasted  teeth  on  the 
front  piazza  of  the  "Rip- 
pleford  Hotel."  A  worn, 
rather  sad,  yet  kindly  face 
and  shrewd  eye  gave  in- 
terest to  his   inconspicuous  tigure. 

'^A  quiet  place,  this,"  he  said,  with  a 
glance  down  the  hot,  still  street,  banded 
by  the  cool,  broad  shadows  of  maples. 
"Ya-as,  middlin',"  from  the  leathery- 
faced  tavern-keeper,  raining  tobacco 
juice  on  the  steps  below. 

"My  health  is  not  good,  and  Pve  been 


6     The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

advised  to  live  in  the  country,  and  I 
believe  this  might  suit  me  if  I  could 
get  some  place  in  the  hills,  near  here, 
where  I  could  board." 

"Mebbe  ye  kin.  They  ust  to  take 
boarders  up  at  the  Red  Farm,  but  now 
they've  all  jined  the  Tribe  I  dunno  what 
the  chance'd  be.  But  if  ye  don't  mind 
queer  folks  I  reckon  they'd  board  ye 
at  the  Tribe." 

"The  nVibe?'     Indians?" 

"White  Injuns." 

"What  do  you  mean!" 

The  leathery  one  spat,  opened  his 
mouth  to  speak,  and  then  held  up  his 
hand. 

A  sound  of  music,  singing,  and  the 
trampling  of  horses  hoofs  came  down 
the  street  from  the  westward. 

"Them's  them!" 

At  that  moment,  around  a  slight  bend 
in  the  street,  there  poured  into  the  vil- 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise      7 

lage  a  motley  cavalcade  of  horses,  riders 
and  dogs  that  made  the  traveller  stare. 

What  were  they?  Indians,  Gypsies, 
masqueraders,  or  a  circus  company? 

They  were  certainly  mostly  white 
people,  and  their  faces  intelle6lual  and 
retined,  tho  sunburned  like  sailors. 

But  all  of  them,  men,  women  and 
children,  wore  on  their  faces  the  same 
expression  —  something  so  vividly  un- 
tamed, free  and  care -free,  frank  and 
glad,  that  it  affected  the  traveller  like 
a  breath  from  another  world.  He  had 
never  seen  that  expression  on  a  grown- 
up person  before. 

A  herd  of  romping  deer  in  the  forest 
might  look  that  way. 

And  there  were  several  deer,  run- 
ning among  the  horses  as  a  part  of  the 
procession. 

A  young  hound,  seeing  them,  sprang 
up  and  made  threatening  start,  but  the 


8     The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

dogs  of  the  procession  met  him  with 
such  a  rank  of  gleaming  fangs  and 
bristling   backs  that  he  fled  cowering. 

The  horses  were  beautiful,  with  much 
the  same  proud,  wild,  glad  look  as  their 
riders,  groomed  till  they  shone  like 
glass,  curvetting  yet  gentle,  fantastically 
decorated  and  caparisoned,  according 
to  the  fancy  or  affe6tion  of  their  own- 
ers, with  little  bells,  plumes,  fringes, 
tassels,  woven  saddle-cloths,  horsehair 
bridling  and  carved  leather-work. 

And  the  riders  were  dressed,  each 
after  his  own  humor,  in  costumes  that 
seemed  more  to  express  the  wearer  than 
any  fashion  or  style.  Some  were  se- 
verely plain,  some  neutral  in  tints,  but 
not  one  was  dressed  conventionally,  and 
brilliant  colors,  artistically  blended,  and 
strange,  barbaric  ornamentation,  consist- 
ing mainly  of  profuse  but  exquisite  em- 
broidery &  fringe-work  prevailed.  The 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise      9 


originality  of  many  of  the  costumes  was 
remarkable  &    struck  the  eye  at  once. 

And  a  wild,  half-savage  freedom  ex- 
pressed itself  in  all.  Bare  heads,  arms 
and  feet  were  common,  bare  throats 
were  universal,  bare  chests  and  bare  legs 
were  there.  The  full  beard  was  almost 
invariable,  with  the  men,  many  wore 
long  hair,  &  many  of  the  women  had 
their  locks  loose  and  streaming  or  in 
long  braids  down  the  back. 

But  there  was  little  jewelry,  and  a 
critical  eye  might  have  noted  that  their 
theory  of  ornamentation  seemed  rather 
to  consist  in  the  loving  decoration  of 
useful  things  by  artistic  handiwork,  than 
in  the  wearing  of  useless  or  cumber- 
some things  purely  for  effe6t.  It  was 
free,  exuberant,  glad  delight  in  beauty, 
not  ostentation. 

A  strong  suggestion  of  Indian  taste, 
freely  adapted,  was  discernible  in  all 
their  dress  and  trappings. 


lo    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

The  women  rode  astride,  like  the 
men,  and  seemed  equally  at  home  on 
horseback. 

It  was  evidently  a  holiday  pageant;  a 
singularly  childlike,  un-American  aban- 
don moving  them  all,  and  there  was 
much  fluting  and  luting  and  singing  of 
gay  songs. 

Just  as  they  neared  the  hotel  they 
were  singing  this  part-song,  with  a 
spirit  and  elan  that  stirred  the  care- 
worn listener  like  a  trumpet. 

SONG    OF   THE   FREE 

O  the  -winds  are  free  — 

And  so  are  we! 
The  -waves  are  free — 

Aiid  so  are  lue! 
The  woods  are  free — 

And  so  are  we! 

Sons  of  the    Wood  are  we  ! 
Merrily^  merrily^    Comrades^ 
Sing  we  the  Song  of  the  Free ! 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    i  i 

O  the  flowers  are  free — 

And  so  are  vje! 
The  birds  are  free — 

And  so  are  we! 
The  clouds  are  free 

A?id  so  are  7ve! 

Sons  of  the    Wild  are  we ! 
Merrily^   juerrily^    Comrades^ 
Sing  we  the  Song  of  the  Free\ 

O  the  stars  a)  e  free — 

And  so  are  wet 
The  hills  are  free 

And  so  are  we! 
The  trees  grow  free — 

And  so  do  we! 

Hoh  !     Hoh  !     Hoh  ! 
Coynrades ! — 
L iberty  !     Libe rty  ! 
Forever  we  are  free  ! 

''Them's  them.    Them's    tlie  Tribe." 


CHAPTER  II 


■^ 

Y  dear  Ilillford: 

I   ha\'e  found  the 
Place    at    last. 

A  week  ago  I  came  to  this 
little  out-of-the-way  town  of  Rippleford, 
I  hardly  knew  why,  except  that  I  was 
tired  of  wandering,  felt  myself  a  bro- 
ken man  financially  and  in  health,  and 
had  to  stop  somewhere.  I  sounded  the 
hotel-keeper  as  to  where  I  could  board, 
and  he  told  me  that  perhaps  ''The  Tribe" 
would  take  me  in.  I  was  about  to  pump 
him  as  to  the  meaning  of  these  myste- 
rious words  when  a  fantastic  cavalcade 
came  dashing  down  the  street — a  pro- 
cession of  men,  women  and  children, 
horses,  dogs  <&   tame   deer.     I    thought 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    13 

it   was  a  circus.     But    it    was    my  an- 
swer.    This  was  "The  Tribe." 

I  had  never  seen  people  Hke  this  be- 
fore, and  I  thought  them  Arabs.  They 
were,  it  seems,  celebrating  their  anni- 
versary, &  a  morning  ride  to  town  was 
part  of  the  sports  of  the  day.  While 
they  were  scattered  about  the  village  I 
made  acquaintance  with  some  of  them. 
To  my  surprise  they  proved  the  most 
refined  and  cultured  of  people,  with 
gentle  voices  &  most  courteous  man- 
ners. Yet  they  looked  more  like  Indians 
or  Gypsies  than  civilized  beings. 

I  met  their  chief,  if  you  can  call  one 
such  in  a  Society  where  none  obey,  and 
all  claim  equality,  and  individual  initia- 
tive is  the  first  and   favorite  principle. 

He  was  a  magnificant,  athletic  man, 
with  the  brow  of  a  philosopher,  a  rest- 
ful, gentle  voice,  serenely  child-like  look 
and  the    eyes    of    a    mystic.     Imagine 


14    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

such  a  man  without  clothing,  except 
sandals,  short  breeches  (about  like 
swimming  trunks)  of  fringed  buckskin, 
a  sleeveless  unbuttoned  vest,  or  Bolero 
jacket,  of  embroidered  leather,  a  wam- 
pum belt,  fringed  pouch,  and  an  owl 
feather  in  his  hair,  and  you  will  guess 
something  of  his  company,  tho  no  two 
were  alike. 

There  was  a  female  leader,  too,  a  dark 
beautiful  woman  named  Earle.  She 
wore  a  scarf  turban-wise  on  her  coiled 
hair,  divided  skirt,  leggings  and  moc- 
casins; all  in  nut-brown  and  almost  ut- 
terly without  ornament,  tho  of  richest 
material  and  perfect  fit.  But  no  sim- 
plicity could  lessen  the  queenliness  of 
her  presence.  She  was  high-bred  from 
eyelash  to  feet. 

The  man  was  Forrest  Westwood. 

Their  eyes  were  singularly  alike, 
deep,  mystical,  penetrative,  but    child- 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    15 

like  and  unworldly.  I  felt  they  were 
judging  me  by  new  standards  &  felt 
very  strangely.  T  told  them  my  needs. 
They  seemed  hardly  listening,  only  look- 
ing into  me.  Suddenly  the  man  put 
forth  his  hand  and  clasped  mine. 

"Brother,"  he  said,  "you  were  never 
at  home  out  there,  and  that  is  why  it 
sickened  you.  You  will  find  your  own 
among  us." 

I  was  thrilled,  tho  I  hardly  knew 
why,  but  he  looked  at  the  woman. 

"You  are  right,"  she  said,  "he  will  be 
one  of  us,"  &  she  gave  me  her  hand. 

I  did  not  wonder  at  the  influence  of 
these  two.  A  sort  of  god-like  dignity 
and  health  seemed  to  hang  about  them; 
they  were  as  messengers  from  another 
world. 

But  indeed  something  of  the  same  I 
find  among  all  of 'these  unique  people. 
Perhaps    it    is    because    each    lives  his 


1 6    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

own  life,  absolutely,  without  interfer- 
ence from  the  others.  To  do  as  you 
please  is  what  everyone  requires  of  you. 
There  seems  no  other  policy  (tho  they  co- 
operate beautifully)  except  to  encourage 
each  others  differences  in  ideals.  They 
are  as  pleased  with  difference  as  peo- 
ple in  the  world  are  with  conformity, 

Well,  when  they  returned  I  went 
with  them. 

Comrade  Forrest,  as  they  call  the 
chief,  insisted  on  my  taking  his  horse, 
and  when  the  others  went  fast  he  took 
hold  of  the  stirrup-leather  &  ran  beside 
me  like  a  deer,  saying,  and  apparently 
with  truth,  that  he  enjoyed   it. 

The  horses  were  all  pets,coming  to  call 
like  dogs,  beloved  like  those  of  Arabs. 

I    have    now  been  here  a  week  and 
feel  I  have  just  begun  to  live. 
Your  saved  friend, 

Felton. 


CHAPTER  III 


i 

H 

Y  dear  Hillford: 

"The  Tribe  of  the 
Natural,"  lives  among  the 
hills  &  mountains  westward 
from  Rippleford ;  including  in  its  domain 
the  farms  of  some  former  dwellers  in 
that  region  and  a  goodly  parcel  of  wild, 
rough  acres   whicli  they  bought. 

Their  village,  scattered  about  among 
the  hills  and  valleys,  is  called  "Vale 
Sunrise,"  after  the  original  name  of 
Forrest  Westwood's  place. 

The  founders,  it  seems,  were  Forrest 
Westwood;  a  fair  neighbor  and  friend 
of  his,  whom  I  have  never  heard  called 
by  any  other  name  than  "?vIabel-of-the- 
Morning-Light"  (a  most  beautiful,  gen- 


1 8    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

tie,  dreamy-eyed  woman  whom  every- 
body loves  and  talks  about  as  if  she 
were  somehow  a  little  apart  and  sacred) 
who  brought  in  "The  Red  Farm;" 
Theodora  Earle,  a  famous  artist,  who 
bought  most  of  the  land;  Saxon  Ward, 
the  now  well-known  author,  then  editor 
of  the  local  paper,  and  his  cousin,  Edith 
Lyle,  a  pretty,  saucy  wom.an  whom  at 
first  you  think  pert  and  shallow,  but 
whom  a  closer  acquaintance  reveals  as 
possessing  some  really  surprising  depths 
of  thought  and  feeling,  and  whose  con- 
clusions can  be  relied  upon  always  to 
fall   on  the  radical  side. 

These  all  live  in  the  original  "Vale 
Sunrise,"  not  far  apart,  in  pi6luresque 
and  artistic  homes,  and  form  a  little 
inner  circle  of  love  and  devotion  whose 
center  is  confessedly  this  grand  demi- 
savage,  Forrest. 

Forrest    has   several  children,  too, — 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    19 

three  stalwart,  manly  boys  and  a  beau- 
tiful little  girl,  and  it  is  delightful  to 
see  the  reverence  and  love  they  show 
their  father. 

The  land  was  gotten  at  different  times 
and  in  different  ways,  but  now  nobody 
owns  it  individually  exa6tly  as  they  do 
in  the  outer  world,  but  it  belongs  to 
the  Society,  collectively,  and  each  in- 
dividual has  what  he  thinks  he  can  use, 
as  long  as  he  can  use  it,  but  cannot  buy 
it  or  sell  it  or  give  it  away  as  his  own, 
having  however  the  privilege  of  trans- 
ferring his  usufruct  right  to  another 
actual  user.  A  good  deal  is  held  in 
common,  for  these  people,  most  of 
them,  are  semi-communists  and  some 
entirely  communistic. 

The  names  of  the  country  people  for 
them,^'The  Tribe"  and  "White  Indians,'' 
and  their  own  titles,  '^The  Tribe  of  the 
Natural,"  or  the  "Society  of  the  Simpli- 


20    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

cists,"  reveal  a  good  deal,  as  I  have 
learned  that  they  a6lually  have  modeled 
a  great  part  of  their  social  life  alter  that 
of  Indians,  Eskimos  and  other  sav^ages, 
whose  social  relations  they  seriously 
contend  are  superior  to  the  white  man's. 
Their  ideal  is  a  simple,  natural,  child- 
like life.  There  are  some  real  Indians 
among  them,  too,  and  people  of  all 
colors,  even  one  Chinaman.  I  never  in 
my  life,  before,  was  in  a  place  where  ^'a 
man's  a  man  for  a'  that"  so  truly  as  here. 
But  to  my  surprise  I  found  that  most 
of  these  wild  people  were  artists;  musi- 
cians, poets,  painters,  sculptors,  or  writ- 
ers; and  some  of  them  of  world-wide 
fame.  It  reminds  one  of  Brook  Farm, 
that  way. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  groups 
is  a  Japanese  family,  artists  all  of  them, 
who  in  their  dress,  and  in  everything 
about    their  house    &  home,   carrv   out 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 


21 


all  the  ways  and  customs  of  Old  Japan. 
But  a  proportion  of  the  villagers  are 
quite  illiterate,  simple,  old-fashioned 
country  people,  drawn  by  an  attraftion 
easy  to  understand,  for  here  the  ''good 
old  times"  have  not  yet  gone  out  of 
respe(5l. 

The  utmost  childlike  ca7naraderie 
prevails. 

The  separating  lines  regarded  so  im- 
portant in  the  outer  world  are  consid- 
ered vulgar  here. 

Yet  no  one  intrudes  on  the  privacy 
of  another  &  you  can  be  a  hermit,  if 
it  so  suit  you,  with  the  full  approval 
and  sympathy  of  all. 

There  are  two  pillars  or  gateposts  of 
granite  at  the  entrance  to  this  domain 
and  on  one  is  chiseled: 

*Xbf$  1$  the  Eand  of  €quaI'DO'Jf$-yoM'PIeasc;'' 

and  on  the  other: 


2  2    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

*'m  UlouW  Vo«  nm  Vo«r  own  Eire  Tn  Vour 
Own  may/' 

On  the  reverse  side  of  one  is  the 
single  word  "  Liberty,"  on  the  reverse 
of  the  other  the  w^ord  "Comradeship." 

I  know  not  how  it  would  seem  to 
you,  but  these  mottoes  thrill  me  like 
a  divine  voice. 

Onl}^  one  thing  nobody  will  tolerate 
here:  To  attempt  to  dominate,  dictate, 
interfere  with  or  coerce  anybody,  for 
any  purpose  whatever,  or  to  treat  any- 
body with  disrespect,  would  bring  down 
the  boycott  of  the  whole  Tribe  upon 
you.  The  one  thing  that  drew  these 
people  together,  and  which  seems  to 
unite  them,  is  a  common  enthusiasm 
for  a  larger,  more  natural  and  more 
beautiful  human  life,  founded  on  the 
individual's  own  ideals.  They  dream 
above  all  things  of  a  society  wherein 
everyone  attains  the  evolution  and  fru- 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    23 

ition  of  Self,  believing  this  the  road 
to  the  Ideal   Happiness. 

''What  is  happiness?"  I  asked  For- 
rest one  day. 

"When  you  were  a  child,  how  did 
you  define  it?'' 

"Why  I  used  to  think  that  if  I  could 
do  just  as  I  wanted  to  I  would  be  per- 
fectly happy." 

He  nodded  and  smiled,  and  went  on 
with  his  work  as  if  there  were  no  more 
to  be  said. 

And  that  reminds  me  that  the  way 
these  people  treat  children  is  extraor- 
dinary. Theya6tas  if,  concerning  many 
of  the  deep  things  of  life,  children  were 
wiser  than  grown-ups  and  could  be  their 
teachers.  They  treat  them  with  tender- 
est  care  and  most  respe6lful  politeness. 
A  negle6fed  child,  or  an  abused  one,  is 
impossible  here.  Every  adult  feels  as 
a  parent   to  every  child;  an  orphan   is 


24    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

the  beloved  charge  of  the  community. 
Children  are  never  slapped,  suppressed 
or  insulted.  And  the  effe6l  on  the  chil- 
dren is  just  as  wonderful.  Perhaps  it 
is  just  becouse  they  are  never  treated 
rudely  themselves  and  never  see  rude 
behavior  between  their  elders;  but  be 
it  what  it  may  a  rude,  mischievous  in- 
sulting child  seems  as  unknown  here  as 
in  Japan.  Yet  all  the  respe6l  with  which 
they  are  treated  does  not  spoil  them  one 
bit.  And  they  are  the  happiest  children 
I  ever  saw.  Here  adults  are  like  chil- 
dren, and  children  wise  &  polite  from 
their  cradles.  And  I  notice  one  won- 
derful thing,  beside.  No  child  has  that 
morbid  longing  to  be  grown  up,  so  fa- 
miliarly seen  outside,  and  no  grown-up 
here  has  the  equally  unnatural  desire 
to  be  a  child    again.     I   wonder  why? 

But  to  resume. 

"Why  do  you  people  all  seem  so  hap- 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    25 

py?''  I  asked  Theodora  Earle.  (Whom 
everybod}'  calls  by  her  first  name,  as 
there  are  no  titles  here.) 

"Because  we  are  all  children  in  the 
woods"  she  laughed. 

Knowing  there  was  no  necessary 
agreement  of  ideas  in  this  place  I  went 
to  others.  I  asked  an  Indian  who  was 
cutting  a  tree.  He  was  a  Carlisle  grad- 
uate, but  proud  of  his  blood. 

He  looked  around  at  wood  and  sky 
and  tapped  his  breast  with  a  graceful 
gesture : 

•^Because  they  are  like  Indians,  like 
trees  and  clouds — ivildr 

A  gray  and  wrinkled  old  negro  had 
been  a  slave.     He  looked  thoughtful  : 

"I  reckon,  suh,  hits  because  dey  aint 
no  big  folks  hyeah,  suh.  Hits  'nuf  to 
be  jes'  plain  maii^  hyeah,  suh." 

"We  live  the  poet-life!"  a  long  haired 
German  told  me. 


26    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

Itso,  the  Japanese,  gave  me  his  gen- 
tle smile: 

'^They  have  learned  the  lesson  of 
Old  Japan.  Art  is  the  atmosphere  of 
daily  Hfe.'^ 

"Pm  afther  thinkin,"  Pat  Ginnis  said, 
tapping  the  stone  he  was  laying  with 
his  trowel,  '^that  we're  happy  because 
there's  nobody  to  sthop  us,"  and  he 
winked  and  whistled. 

After    all,  when    I    compared    these 
different    replies,    I    thought    they  said 
about  the   same  thing. 
As  ever, 
I  am  your  true    friend, 

Ben.  Felton. 


CHAPTER  1\ 


EAR  HiUford: 

Well,  I've  joined  the 
Tribe.  I  am  one  of  the  "Nat- 
ural" and  the  "Simple"  now; 
not  a  full  member  yet,  because  there  is 
a  term  of  probation,  but  I  am  sure  I 
shall  never  leave  them;  and  they  all  tell 
me  they  are  sure  of  it  too.  But  I  must 
stop  writing  "they"  and  proudly  substi- 
tute "we."  Well,  then,  my  dear  fellow, 
it  is  one  of  our  basic  principles  so  to 
balance  employment  and  labor  that  we 
form  a  self-sufficient  community,  or  are 
capable  of  being  such,  able  to  supply 
all  our  necessities  by  an  exchange  of 
labor  and  labor-produ6ls  among  our- 
selves.    We    claim    that  everv  normal 


2  8    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

man  should  supply  his  own  needs  by 
his  own  labor,  either  directly,  with  his 
own  hands,  or  indirectly,  by  exchang- 
ing his  work,  or  its  produc^ts,  for  those 
of  others — that  naturally  his  work  and 
wants  balance.  Every  man,  here,  does 
the  work  that  pleases  him,  &  the  resi- 
due of  unpleasant  work,  that  nobody 
cares  to  do,  if  any,  is  divided  equally 
among  us;  for  we  hold  that  each  should 
do  his  fair  share  of  the  dirty  and  dis- 
ao'reeable  work  that  must  be  done. 

We  are  semi-communists.  (At  least 
that  is  the  rule,  tho  exceptions  are  not 
at  all  disallowed.)  Work  is  roughly 
divided  among  us  into  necessary  and 
artistic  work,  tho  we  try  to  carry  the 
poetic  touch  into  all  work  so  far  as  may 
be  and  mostly  succeed.  In  the  fore- 
noons we  all  work  together  in  common, 
under  unanimously  chosen  leaders,  or 
superintendents,   to    do    the    necessary 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    29 

work.  In  the  afternoons  we  do  what 
pleases  us,  or  do  nothing  if  we  please. 
There  is  nothing  cast-iron  about  this, 
you  understand.  The  leaders  do  not 
order  or  compel,  they  only  direct  and 
advise.  Work  is  ele6iive,  but  if  enough 
do  not  choose  a  necessary  vv^ork  volun- 
teers are  called  for,  and  it  is  considered 
an  honorable  and  comradely  a6l  to  vol- 
unteer, &  in  case  of  specially  disagreea- 
ble or  dangerous  work  there  are  various 
compensations  and  rewards  offered  — 
public  testimonials  and  thanks,  honor- 
able mention  in  the  historical  records, 
public  and  private  gifts,  longer  hours 
of  leisure,  etc.,  etc.  Some  have  their 
personal  time  in  the  forenoon  and  do 
necessary  work  in  the  afternoon,  or  later, 
because  some  woik  must  be  done  then. 
And  in  times  of  emergency,  harvest 
time  we'll  say,  all  hands  work  commun- 
istically  all  day,  or  as  long  as  necessary. 


30    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

This  is  balanced  by  holidays  and  sick 
leaves  and  other  special  exemptions. 
But  ordinarily  the  half-day  does  the 
necessary  work,  and  the  rest  of  the 
day  3^ou  rest,  or  study,  or  amuse  your- 
self, or  do  vour  own  w^ork. 

The  artistic  element  is  so  strong,  here, 
that  most  of  us  spend  our  individual 
time  in  the  doing  of  beautiful  work  just 
for  the  joy  of  it.  Even  as  I  vv^rite,  this 
pleasant  afternoon,  I  know  of  a  violinist 
who  is  composing  a  waltz,  a  poet  pol- 
ishing verse,  a  stone-cutter  chiseling 
tlowers  on  his  cotta^^e  wall.  Nobodv 
ever  fancied  bald-headed,  melancholy 
old  Ben.  Felton  had  any  artistic  long- 
ings, did  they? — and  he  certainly  never 
would  have  confessed  it  had  not  these 
people  encouraged  him  to  be  fearlessly 
himself.  But  the  fa6t  is  I  have  always 
had  such  cravings,  and  now  I  am  going 
into    wood -carving    with    passionate 


The  1)well.ers  in  Vaee  Sunrise    31 

enthusiasm.  Forrest,  who  is  quite  a 
carver  and  sculptor  himself,  and  who 
seems  to  like  my  company,  is  giving 
me  many  points,  and  encourages  me 
right  along. 

"What  is  the  use!"  I  said,  "I  am  too 
old  to  ever  do  any  really  worthy  work." 

"You  do  not  see  it  right,"  he  replied; 
"Art  is  for  the  artist.  It  is  love  in  the 
work  expressed  in  the  ware.  If  you 
are  happy  in  the  making,  and  the  made 
reveals  it,  it  is  enough.  Other  people's 
critical  estimate  of  it,  in  the  light  of 
their  ideals,  is  their  own  affair  and  an- 
other matter  altogether.  True  critics, 
those  who  feel  what  the  artist  felt,  and 
judge  the  work  by  his  ideals,  are  rarer 
than  diamonds, and  they  will  understand 
and  be  pleased  anyway.  The  first  pas- 
sion of  a  true  artist  is  to  express  him- 
self, not  to  please  the  public." 

"But    is   there  not  a  Perfe6t,  some- 


32    The  Dwej^lers  in  Vai.e  Sunrise 

where,  to  which  all  Art  must  turn  as 
the  final  arbiter?" 

"Yes,  but  you,  by  virtue  of  your  in- 
dividuality, have  a  private  road,  all  your 
own,  to  travel  on  toward  the.  Perfect. 
To  take  another  man's  path,  against 
your  desire,  is  to  be  traitor  to  Art  and 
your  own  soul." 

It  is  an  axiom  here  that  the  artist 
should  never  work  for  pay  (tho  he  may 
sell  his  work),  or  force  himself,  or  be 
forced  by  others,  in  his  work.  He 
should  onl}'  do  it  because  he  longs  to 
do  it,  and  while  the  passion  for  crea- 
tion is  upon  him.  He  must  be  u.tterly 
independent  &  above  his  work.  How- 
ever, as  much  as  possible,  these  people 
are  artists  in  all  they  do  and  make. 
Art  is,  as  Itso  said,  the  atmosphere  of 
their  daily  life.  They  delight  to  inter- 
weave the  quaint,  the  picturesque  and 
the  beautiful,  if  only  with  a  few  sug- 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    ^^ 

gestive  touches,  in  all  their  work,  so 
that  all  becomes  pleasing  and  interest- 
ing and  not  mere  drudgery. 

The  art  of  Forrest  is  very  original. 
The  walls,  furniture  and  timber-work 
of  his  strange  dwelling,  "Cave  Gables,^' 
(half  cave,  half  Gothic  hall)  are  replete 
with  carvings  and  chiselings,  and  all  his 
tools  &  accoutrements  are  more  or  less 
adorned  in  the  same  way.  He  delights 
to  catch  a  suggestion  from  some  knot 
or  root  or  grain  in  timber,  or  line  or 
corner  in  stone,  and  bring  it  out  with 
a  few  knife-cuts  or  chisel-strokes.  The 
result  is  half-Nature,  half-art,  so  blended 
that  you  can  hardly  tell  where  one  be- 
gins &  the  other  ends,  or  whether  man's 
hand  or  Nature's  growth  is  most  respon- 
sible. His  work  is  seldom  finely  finished 
or  polished,  often  it  is  rude  and  gro- 
tesque, but  it  is  intensely  stimulating  and 
suggestive  to  the  imagination,  and  fre- 
quently weird    and    mystical    in  effe6f. 


34    I'he  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

As  an  illustration  of  how  Art  (often 
with  a  humorous  touch)  pervades  the 
lower  lines  of  work  here,  I  will  just 
speak  of  one  thing  which  struck  me  as 
soon  as  I  arrived  and  which  is  com- 
mented upon  by  all  visitors. 

Now  with  you,  no  man  who  has  any 
pride  in  his  appearance  dare  wear  a 
patched  garment — "it  is  premeditated 
poverty" — and  good  clothes  are  con- 
stantly thrown  away  because  torn  or 
worn.  Not  so  here.  As  long  as  a  gar- 
ment can  be  used  it  is  used.  There  is 
a  large  &  well-appointed  laundry,  with 
cleaning  and  repairing  room  attached, 
and  the  moment  your  garment  is  soiled 
or  defaced  you  send  it  there — not  only 
shirts  and  underwear  but  all  garments 
of  all  fabrics.  Every  garment  is  inspec- 
ted and  put  in  complete  repair  before 
sending  it  home — cleaned,  sponged, 
pressed,  patched,  darned    or    whatever 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 


35 


may  be  necessary.  Consequently  the 
people  of  the  Tribe  (as  this  is  all  com- 
munistic work  and  costs  nothino-  indiv- 
idually)  are  the  best-dressed  &  cleanest 
working  community  in  the  world.  They 
simply  have  no  excuse  for  wearing  dirty 
or  torn  raiment.  But  tho  there  are  no 
rags,  patches  are  common  and  worn 
shamelessly  by  all — and  this  is  what 
struck  me — not  only  are  they  common, 
but  they  are  made  ornamental. 

Perhaps  by  form,  or  by  agreeable 
contrasts  in  material  or  color,  or  by 
excellence  of  needle-work  —  someway 
the  result  is  ingeniously  attained,  and 
the  patchers  are  certainly  artists  in  their 
way,  and  their  work  a  constant  source 
of  amusement  &  pleasure  to  the  people. 
Here  you  see  a  moth-eaten  blue  coat 
patched  with  silver  stars ;  there  an  Orien- 
tal looking  garment  has  a  patch  like  a 
crescent;  that  buckskin  tunic  has  a  patch 


36    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

on  the  elbow  in  the  familiar  Indian  sun- 
pattern;  that  stone-mason's  overall  has 
a  patch  on  the  knee  like  a  trowel;  yon- 
der jovial  shoemaker  has  two  eye-spots 
on  his  seat;  that  little  girl's  torn  apron 
is  adorned  with  a  "pussy-cat"  (to  her 
infinite  delight)  —  and  so  it  goes.  A 
multitude  of  patterns  are  kept  on  hand, 
and  you  can  choose  yourself  if  you 
wish,  or  they  will  be  made  to  order, 
or,  of  course,  if  you  prefer,  the  patch 
will  be  made  invisible;  but  few  ask  that. 
Most  people  enjoy  the  patches,  &  they 
certainly  are  exceedingly  pi6turesque. 

Yes,  and  while  I  think  of  it  I  will 
tell  you  of  something  else  which  may 
interest  you,  at  least  it  did  me,  intensely, 
as  showing  how  co-operation  &  a  little 
ingenuity  can,  in  a  very  simple  way,  over- 
come some  great  evils.  What  can  you 
imagine  more  wasteful  &  disgusting  than 
the  usual  closet  and  scavenger  system 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    37 

of  civilization?  Our  water  closets  are 
clean,  but  sweep  millions  of  dollars 
worth  of  weath  annually  into  the  sea, 
and  carry  the  deadly  peril  of  sewer  gas. 
And  the  methods  in  small  towns  and 
country  places  are  simply  unmention- 
able. How  different  here.  The  Tribe 
has  a  great  sand  pit.  The  sand  is  kiln 
dried  and  thuroly  impregnated  with  a 
cheap,  non-poisonous,  yet  very  powerful 
disinfectant  and  deodorizer  made  here. 
Every  resident  is  provided  with  com- 
mode pails,  with  tight  lids,  and  all  he 
can  use  of  the  deodorizing  sand.  Twice 
a  week  a  man  drives  around  in  a  great 
quaint  wain  drawn  by  six  mules  and 
loaded  with  clean  pails  full  of  sand. 
Pails  are  exchanged  at  every  residence 
and  when  his  round  is  completed  he 
drives  to  the  community  farm  &  empties 
his  load  into  a  great  roofed-over  pit. 
Here  a  drove  of  hogs  thuroly  work  over 


38    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

and  compost  the  contents,  for  the  dis- 
infectant is  harmless.  These  hogs  are 
never  eaten  by  man,  but  breed,  live  & 
die  in  the  pit,  and  when  dead  are  de- 
voured by  the  others.  All  garbage, 
gatheixd  by  the  same  methods,  goes 
into  the  pit  to  improve  the  compost. 
The  pails  are  placed  in  a  vat  &  cleansed 
by  hot  steam. 

Now  see  how  cheap,  clean  and  sim- 
ple the  whole  plan:  there  is  from  tirst 
to  last  no  odor  or  disagreeable  sugges- 
tiveness  about  the  whole  business.  The 
hogs  cost  nothing  and  do  all  the  work 
of  composting.  The  scavenger  (they 
call  him  '*The  Waste  Man"  here  and 
he  has  more  leisure  time  than  almost 
anybody  else  because  of  the  supposed 
disagreeable  suggestiveness  of  his  du- 
ties) wears  a  big  white  smock-frock 
about  his  work  &  is  as  clean  as  a  baker. 
His  wagon  is  picturesque,  and  his  mules 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    39 

tinkle  with  little  bells,  and  the  people 
treat  him  with  gratitude  &  respe6t.  And 
the  fertilizer  obtained  pays  all  expenses 
and  leaves  a  big  profit  for  the  farm,  for 
nothing  excels  it  in  manurial  value. 

Speaking  of  cleanliness  reminds  me 
that  I  want  a  bath.  There  is  a  public 
bath-house  free  to  all,  with  attendants 
always  ready,  and  you  can  have  a  hot- 
air,  steam  or  water  bath,  as  you  prefer, 
or  all  of  them,  with  any  desired  hydro- 
pathic variation. 

Clean  clothes  all  the  time,  and  a 
tirst-class  bath  whenever  you  want  it — 
isn't  that  luxury  for  a  working  man — 
wealth  ? ! 

Happily — 

Felton. 


CHAPTER    V 


H 

Y  dear  Hillford: 

You  want  to  know 

more  about  our  "Indian  idea"  ? 

Well  there  is  a  side  to  this 
which  is  very  serious  and  fundamental. 
We  claim  that  the  Indians,  and  indeed 
most  savages,  by  the  simplicity,  com- 
munism and  brotherhood  character  of 
their  tribal  arrangements  secured  a 
beauty,  health  and  sanity  of  social  life 
infinitely  superior  to  that  which  most 
w^hite  men  know.  We  are  all  free  to 
do  as  we  please,  and  none  of  us  are 
hypnotized  by  this  idea,  but  as  a  mat- 
ter of  faft,  in  both  larger  and  minor 
matters,  we  have  accepted  a  great 
many  Indian  ways. 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    41 


Take  first  our  integnil  polity:  It  is 
really  anarchistic;  individual  liberty  is 
as  absolute  as  it  can  be  in  conjun6tion 
with  an  equal  freedom  of  all.  There 
are  no  governors,  laws,  masters,  ser- 
vants, jails,  policemen,  judges  and,  I 
may  add,  no  criminals.  The  principle 
of  Natural  Leadership,  derived  from 
the  Indians,  takes  the  place  of  govern- 
ment. The  wisest  &  most  capable  advise 
and  set  the  example,  and  the  others  ac- 
cept the  advice  and  follow  the  leading 
so  far  as  seems  right  to  them,  for  there 
is  no  compulsion  of  any  kind.  These 
leaders  &  wise  advisers  are  called  chiefs, 
but  the  title  is  an  honorary  one  &  rests 
wholly  upon  merit  and  personal  influ- 
ence. Nothing  that  a  chief  dire6ts  can 
be  enforced  by  him,  and  indeed  any  at- 
tempt to  enforce  would  be  unanimously 
resisted — everything  rests  on  free  con- 
sent.    If  you  cannot  work  agreeably  or 


42    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

conscientious!}' under  a  leader  you  with- 
draw and  do  some  other  work;  but  to 
unkindly  criticise  a  leader,  or  endeavor 
aggressively  to  take  awa}'  the  contidence 
of  others  in  him,  is  not  favored  or  con- 
sidered comradely,  for  like  the  Indians 
these  people  are  most  dignified  and 
courteous.  Having  no  laws,  ideals  and 
customs  grow  very  strong  and  public 
opinion  is  potent.  To  quarrel,  to  abuse, 
to  revile,  to  slander,  all  these  tilings  are 
against  the  prevailing  ideal  of  dignity 
and  brotherly  courtesy. 

They  have  a  custom  to  chisel,  on 
ever}'  Tribe  Da}',  (which  is  the  ist  of 
June,  their  anniversary)  a  motto  on  the 
face  of  some  rock  on  a  public  road  or 
other  place  often  seen.  The  one  this 
year  reads: 

'To  Speak  an  Unkind  Ulord  i$  (InwortDv  of 

a  man.     Tf  Vou  Cannot  J^grce  Utitft 

Vowr  Brother  Ceaoe  Rlra/' 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    43 

And  this  principle  of  Free  Secession, 
or  the  Boycott,  they  carry  out  in  every- 
thing. It  is  pra6lically  the  only  weapon 
and  purely  for  defense.  The  six  month's 
probation  is  mainly  to  test  your  ability 
to  co-operate  kindly  &  peacefully  with 
your  comrades.  The  quarrelsome,  con- 
tentious, man,  however  generous,  is  only 
admitted  on  condition  that  he  live  and 
work  apart,  and  if  he  prove  treacher- 
ous, jealous,  a  scandal-monger  &  strife- 
breeder,  he  is  refused  utterly;  but  the 
effort  to  govern  and  dominate  is  the 
most  unpardonable  sin. 

As  a  consequence,  and  in  spite  of  or 
because  of  their  utter  liberty,  (as  you 
choose  to  look  at  it)  these  people  live 
and  work  together  with  a  harmony  I 
never  saw  equalled. 

But  if  anything  is  to  be  done  involv- 
ing mutual  expense,  say  the  erection  of 
a  public  building,  only  those  who  vote 


44    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

for  it  are  expected  to  pay  for  it.  It  is 
considered  simply  fair  that  the  minority 
be  exempt  from  contributions,  tho  as  a 
matter  of  fa6t  they  often  do  contribute. 
Perhaps  you  do  not  quite  see  how  such 
independence  is  possible  in  commun- 
ism, so  I  will  explain.  Communism 
here  is  only  partial  and  rests  on  individ- 
ualism, that  is,  is  free,  &  may  be  seceded 
from  if  unsatisfa6tory.  On  all  matters 
on  which  all  agree  expenses  are  equally 
assessed,  and  at  stated  times  profits  are 
divided,  the  individual  having  full  con- 
trol of  his  dividend.  But  if  there  is 
disagreement  on  any  work  the  minority 
withdraw  and  hav^e  neither  expenses  or 
profits  to  share,  the  majority  assuming 
both.  However,  if  this  is  a  public  struc- 
ture, as  is  usually  the  case,  the  minority 
are  not  excluded  from  its  use  because 
of  non-contribution,  it  being  considered 
that  the  privilege  of  use  is  only  a  fair 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    45 

compensation  for  the  disappointment  of 
not  being  permitted  to  have  it  made  as 
they  wish.  And  if  the  majority  build 
one  strii6Lure  and  the  minority  another, 
for  similar  use,  but  on  different  lines, 
then  the  privilege  of  use  is  courteousl}' 
extended  from  each  to  the  other. 

You  have  no  idea  what  an  immense 
amount  of  wrangling,  bitterness  &  polit- 
ical trickery  this  estops. 

As  I  say,  the  wisest  and  best  of  the 
Tribe  come  to  be  regarded  as  chiefs, 
but  this  is  not  often  by  formal  \'ote  or 
ceremony,  but  by  individual  admiration, 
acclamation  and  followinfr.  The  kin^j^ 
is  the  one  who  can^  who  knows  best, 
and  his  work  is  his  proof.  The  fore- 
men who  direct  the  communal  work 
are  chosen  by  unanimous  vote. 

If  two  tribesmen  cannot  agree  they 
do  not  reproach,  insult  or  beat  one  an- 
other, but  carry  the  matter  to  mutually 


46    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

trusted  comrades,  usually  chiefs,  for 
arbitration. 

The  Society,  as  I  have  said,  is  only 
partially  communistic,  like  the  Indians, 
like  a  family.  V/e  work  together  on 
mutual  matters;  on  private  matters  we 
stand  alone.  But  this,  too,  is  custom  & 
not  law.  A  few  members  are  wholly 
communistic,  dwell  in  community  build- 
ings, do  only  community  work,  &  claim 
and  have  no  priv^ate  property.  Another 
few  are  pure  individualists,  some  me- 
chanics, several  artists,  a  few  farmers. 
The  communistic  feature  of  tribal  life 
is  then  a  separate  enterprise,  into  which 
you  enter  as  deep  as  you  please,  and 
from  which  you  derive  a  profit  in  pro- 
portion to  your  investment.  There  are 
quarter-time,  half-time  &  full-time  com- 
munists—  almost  all  of  us  being  in  the 
half-time  class  as  before  explained. 

Among  most   Indians  the  love  rela- 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    47 

tions  are  matters  of  private  agreement, 
with  more  or  less  tribal  congratulation 
and  rejoicing.  Here  the  prevailing  spirit 
is  more  than  Indian-like  in  its  simplic- 
ity. All  such  matters  are  considered 
utterly  private  and  personal,  and  it  is 
universally  considered  ill-bred  and  in- 
delicate to  publish,  comment  on  or  take 
any  notice  of  them  with  reference  to 
particular  events  or  couples.  It  is  uni- 
versally agreed  to,  too,  that  legal  inter- 
ference here  is  impertinent,  invasive  of 
private  right,  and  injurious,  but  as  we 
live  in  the  U.  S.,  and  do  not  wish  trouble 
with  the  authorities,  it  is  usual  for  two 
members  who  wish  to  live  as  mates  to 
go  thru  with  the  simplest  ceremony  the 
law  will  accept.  That  is  all.  As  to  the 
Tribe  itself  the  whole  matter  is  silently 
accepted  or,  if  you  will,  gracefully  ig- 
nored. There  is  no  ceremony,  no  one 
offers    congratulations    or  gifts,  except 


48    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

perhaps  the  most  personal  friend  in  the 
most  private  and  delicate  manner,  not 
a  word  by  any  chance  appears  about 
it  in  "The  Council  Fire,"  the  tribal  pa- 
per, which  is  usually  considered  a  his- 
tory of  current  events.  If  the  Tribe 
ever  has  its  way  all  questions  of  love, 
parentage,  marriage  and  divoice  will  be 
settled  altogether  and  alone  by  the  pri- 
vate agreement  of  the  parties  concerned. 
And  if  their  silence  is  deep  concerning 
love-unions,  it  is  like  oblivion  itself 
concerning  all  trouble  between  lovers 
tending  to  separation.  They  simply  will 
not  discuss  it. 

I  really  believe  these  people  think  it 
infinitely  more  immodest  and  indelicate 
to  reveal  or  take  notice  of  love-joys  and 
sorrows  than  to  expose  the  person.  In 
fa(?t  I  know  it  is  so,  for  nakedness  is 
almost  as  indifferent  a  matter  here  as 
in  Japan.  And  I  confess  that  the  more 
I  think  of  it  the  more  I  think  they  are 
right. 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    49 

In  consequence  a  wonderful  freedom 
and  affe6lionateness  prevails  in  all  re- 
lations between  the  sexes  here.  You 
can  hardly  imagine  how  heavenly  it 
seems,  my  dear  fellow,  to  live  in  a 
community  where  there  is  no  gossip, 
no  sense  of  ownership  or  financial  de- 
pendence between  the  sexes,  jealousy 
is  the  general  horror,  low,  suggestive 
jests  never  heard,  &  love  never  men- 
tioned in  a  personal  sense. 

Yet  impersonally,  as  a  scientific,  med- 
ical, ethical  matter,  I  never  knew  peo- 
ple discuss  love  and  the  sex-relations 
so  much,  yet  always  with  the  same 
respectful  care,  as  touching  the  most 
serious  and  sacred  things.  I  have  not 
heard  a  smutty  story  or  an  obscene 
laugh  since  I  came  here.  Think  of 
such  an  atmosphere  for  the  young. 

An  Indian-like  custom  prevails  in 
the    matter  of  names.     When  a    child 


50    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

is  born  a  name  is  given  it  which  is 
wholly  temporary  and  is  called  the 
'^given-name."  At  any  time  later  the 
child  may  discard  this  name,  if  he 
wishes,  and  name  himself,  choosing 
which  of  his  parents'  names  he  pre- 
fers as  a  surname,  or  using  both  with 
a  hyphen.  This  is  usually  done  some- 
where about  the  age  of  twelve.  At 
any  later  time  the  name  may  again  be 
changed,  if  desired,  by  giving  public 
notice.  This  is  the  "taken-name"  or 
'^self-name."  But  beyond  this  is  the 
"tribe-name,"  which  is  a  nick-name 
given  because  of  some  striking  charac- 
teristic, adventure  or  exploit.  This  is 
given,  like  all  nick-names,  by  general 
informal  consent  &  usage,  and  is  usually 
poetic,  descriptive  or  comical,  tho  these 
people  are  too  kind  to  give  a  name  that 
would  embarass  or  pain.  Sometimes 
the    tribe-name    is    much  or  altogether 


The  Dwellers  l\  Vale  Sunrise    51 


used,  sometimes  but  little.  Thus  we 
have  "Mabel-of-the-Morning-Light ;" 
Forrest  "The  Runner;"  Edith  Lyle, 
"The-Bird-that-Talks ;"  "  Saxon  Sledge- 
hammer;" Theodora,  "The Wise  Lady;" 
"The  Red-Farmer;"  "The  Horse-Jump- 
er;" "The  Iron  Artist;"  and  so  on. 

But  all  the  "given"  and  "self-names" 
here  are  preferably  meaningful  &  poetic, 
and  there  is  quite  a  revolt  against  He- 
brew &  other  conventional  names.  Here 
are  some  of  these  I  have  gathered  up 
to  amuse  you:  Ardor,  Cloud,  Cliff,  Rock, 
Dark,  Oak,  Granite,  Quartz,  Gem,  Gay- 
heart,  Greatheart,  Gladheart,  Freebrain, 
Candor,  Westwind,  Birch,  Cone,  Corn- 
silk,  Pine,  Elmwood,  Pinecone,  Brook, 
Fountain,  Stone,  Hillstone,  Vinestone, 
Violet,  Oriole,  Iris,  Woodbine,  Clover, 
Zephyr,  Hazel,  Gladness,  Hedgebloom, 
Grasstield,  Azalia,  etc. 

I  like  that. 


52    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

And  I  am  very  proud  of  the  "tribe- 
name"  they  have  given  me.  One  day 
I  was  sitting  near  Forrest,  who  was 
talking  to  some  friends,  and,  having  a 
bit  of  clean  board  handy,  with  my  pen- 
knife I  traced  a  sketch  of  him  and  then 
carved  it  into  the  wood.  I  worked  idly, 
almost  without  thought,  being  engrossed 
with  his  talk,  but  one  of  the  tribesmen 
it  seemed  overlooked  me  and  motioned 
to  others,  and  when  I  had  finished  there 
was  a  general  shout  of  admiration  from 
the  little  group  behind  me.  Then  For- 
rest had  to  see,  &  asked  me  to  give  it 
him,  and  professed  great  admiration  for 
it,  &  turning  to  the  others  said,  "I  have 
a  name  for  our  new  brother  now.  We 
will  call  him  *Pi6lure-Knife.'"  Then 
there  was  another  shout,  and  that  has 
been  my  name  ever  since. 

It  pleases  me  greatly,  for  it  seems  a 
recognition  of  me  as  an  artist,  beside 


The  Dwei^lers  in  Vale  Sunrise    ^^ 

it  is  an  unusual  compliment  to  give  a 
"  tribe -name"  to  one  not  yet  a  full 
member. 

Another  Indian-like  feature  is  the 
ofeneral  solidarity.  The  whole  tribe  is 
as  one  family.  The  trouble,  loss,  help- 
lessness, sickness,  pain  or  danger  of  one 
is  the  concern  of  all,  and  not  to  do  all 
in  your  power  for  a  fellow-tribesman  in 
distress  is  considered  monstrous.  This 
brings  in  a  wonderful  mutuality  of  love, 
confidence,  security,  trust,  helpfulness  & 
cheer.  I  never  saw  people  in  the  outer 
world,  not  even  children,  so  utterly 
care-free  as  these. 

But  in  a  thousand  and  one  minor 
matters,  which  I  have  not  time  to  cat- 
alogue here,  these  people  resemble  In- 
dians &  savages.  I  will  tell  them  as  I 
think  of  them,  or  you  will  gather  them 
from  what  I  write.  I  find  I  am  still 
obliged  to  say  '^these  people"  for,  altho 


54    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

I  am  one  of  them,  I  am  still  so  new  a 
member  I  am  forced  to  feel  like  a 
pupil  or  a  spectator. 

I  am  making  this  letter  too  long,  but 
there  is  one  thing  so  important,  and  at 
the  same  time  so  Indian-like,  that  I 
ought  to  tell    you  of  it  here. 

There  is  a  gently  sloping  hill  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  tribal  land  &  rather 
in  the  south-east.  This  hill  is  very 
steep  on  the  west  but  eastward  drops 
gradually  all  the  way  to  Rippleford. 
The  view  is  wide  and  superb.  This  is 
"Council  Hiir-  and  a  splendid  grove 
of  ancient  hemlocks,  oaks  &  chestnuts 
on  its  summit  &  western  side  is  known 
as  "Council  Grove."  This  the  great 
gathering-place  of  the  Tribe  for  all  so- 
cial and  deliberative  purposes.  It  is  so 
high  and  dry  that  mosquitoes  seldom 
annoy,  and  on  fair,  dry  nights  of  sum- 
mer &  fall  the  people  come  here  and 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    55 

sit  around  tiny  fires  &  talk  &  sing  and 
play  harps  and  violins  and  tell  tales  & 
recite  poems.  Part  way  down  the  slope 
a  sort  of  terrace  forms  a  convenient 
arena  &  on  holidays  there  are  all  sorts 
of  races,  games  and  dances  there  and 
displays  of  strength  &  skill. 

In  Council  Grove  is  "Council  Lodge," 
or  "Council  House."  The  most  striking- 
building  in  the  village,  it  deserves  de- 
scription. It  is  an  oblong  structure  with 
a  gothic  roof  &  a  wide  veranda  on  all 
sides.  The  posts  of  the  veranda  are 
peeled  tree-trunks,  the  walls  of  the  edi- 
fice are  of  rough  tield  stones,  and  the 
floor  of  all  is  a  mosaic  of  bits  of  broken 
rock  and  pebbles  forming  pictures  of 
trees,  flowers,  birds,  animals,  all  distinc- 
tively American.  All  about  are  many 
tall,  narrow  windows  or  glass  doors, 
hinged  &  reaching  to  the  floor.  The 
panes  are  of  clear  glass,  but  set  in  lead, 


56    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

of  tree  &  vine  forms,  with  branches. 
The  door-posts  are  tree-trunks  and  the 
wall  between  is  painted  to  represent 
forest  vistas.  Overhead  branches  spring 
everywhere  from  the  rafters  and  tie- 
beams  and  interlace  with  such  art  that 
the  effect  is  like  the  arches  of  a  winter 
forest,  the  ceiling  above  being  sky  blue. 

At  one  end  of  the  room  is  a  dais  of 
rough  rock  work,  holding  a  chair  carved 
out  of  a  single  log,  with  a  great  skin 
thrown  over  it.  Another  cut  of  the  same 
log,  on  end  with  a  stone  celt  or  toma- 
hawk lying  on  it,  forms  a  stand. 

Here,  on  "Council  Nights,"  an  old, 
white-bearded  man,  who  by  his  ta6t  & 
wisdom  has  held  the  office  for  many 
years,  sits  as  "Council  Chief." 

In  the  center  of  the  hall  is  an  altar- 
like block  of  rough  stone,  on  which, 
when  in  council,  the  Tribe  'keeps  a 
little    fire    burning  of    fragrant   woods, 


The  Dvvelj.ers  in  Vale  Sunrise    57 

leaves  and   nuts — ^'The  Council  Fire." 
The  rest  of  the  hall  is  occupied  by 
seats — short  cuts  of  trees,  on  end,  turn- 
ing on  pivots  let  into  the  floor. 

Indian  curios  hang  about  the  walls, 
and  over  the  dais  are  two  large  calu- 
mets, or  peace-pipes,  with  long  elder 
stems  plumed  with  squirrel  tails  &  the 
feathers  of  wood -doves  &  song-birds. 
I  have  attended  one  Council  and  was 
much  impressed.  When  a  tribesman 
spoke  he  stood  up  in  his  place  and  all 
wheeled  their  seats  facing  him.  Each 
is  allowed  so  many  minutes  to  speak, 
and  then  the  Council  Chief  strikes  a 
blow  with  the  tomakawk  on  the  block 
beside  him.  If  he  seems  not  thru,  and 
any  wish  him  to  go  on  till  finished  they 
rise  and  stand,  and  if  a  majority  thus 
express  themselves  no  further  stopping 
is  attempted.  If  this  is  not  done,  how- 
ever, he  must    stop  as  soon  as  he  hn- 


58.  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

ishes  his  sentence.  Fortunately  I  had 
a  chance  to  see  what  would  be  done 
if  the  Chief's  signal  were  disregarded. 
One  young  member,  carried  away  by 
his  eloquence,  tried  to  speak  on  after 
the  gavel  fell. 

''My  brother!"  said  the  old  Chief,  in 
a  tone  of  surprised  reproach,  rising  to 
his  feet. 

But  almost  before  he  had  done  this 
a  remarkable  demonstration  had  oc- 
curred. Hardly  had  the  speaker  gone 
one  sentence  beyond  his  time  before 
every  seat  in  the  room  was  wheeled, 
every  back  turned  squarely  upon  him, 
and  every  ear  covered  with  a  hand. 
Not  a  word  was  spoken,  &  for  a  mo- 
ment it  seemed  vou  could  have  heard 
the  wink  of  eyelid.  The  speaker  was 
arrested  with  his  mouth  open  and  his 
hand  in  the  air.  It  appears  he  is  a  new 
member  &  had  never  seen  this  before. 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    59 

For  an  instant  he  wavered,  gazing  from 
my  astonished  lace  to  that  oT  the  re- 
proachful Chief,  &  then  sat  down  with 
a  suddenness  that  ahnost  made  me  lausfh 
and  hid  his  abashed  face  in  his  hands. 
At  once  the  speaking  was  resumed  & 
all  went  on  as  before. 

To  me  it  was  a  wonderful  lesson  in 
the  force,  dignity  and  effectiveness  of 
the  secession  or  leave-alone  policy. 
Thruout  the  whole  meeting  I  was  con- 
stantly reminded  of  the  Indians  by  the 
gravity,  dignity  and  courtesy  of  all, 
whether  speakers  or  listeners,  and  even 
by  the  constant  use  of  nature-derived 
metaphors  in  their  speeches. 

But  I  have  written  you  a  long,  long 
letter  &  must  stop. 

Your  friend. 

"Piaure-Knife." 


CHAPTER    VI 


lY  dear  Hillford: 

I  am  full  of  a 
remarkable  ceremony  which 
I  have  just  witnessed. 
It  was  a  funeral. 

A  few  days  ago  an  old  man  died. 
It  seems  it  is  often  the  custom  here 
to  have  a  private  funeral  at  the  home 
of  the  deceased,  with  such  music,  re- 
ligious or  other  ceremonies  and  speak- 
ing as  may  be  desired,  and  after  that 
to  have  the  public  or  tribal  funeral. 
But  in  this  case  the  tribal  funeral  alone 
was  held,  &  of  this  I  will  tell  you. 

Friends  bore  the  body  on  a  bier  to 
the  Council  Lodge  and  there  laid  it  on 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    6i 

a  table.  There  was  no  coffin,  no  pall, 
the  dead  man  lay  in  a  restful  attitude, 
as  if  asleep,  his  head  on  a  pillow. 

One  by  one  the  members  of  the  Tribe 
gathered,  for  it  was  afternoon,  the  leis- 
ure time,  and  each  one  carried  a  spray 
or  twig  of  evergreen  &  was  dressed  in 
his  best  attire.  As  soon  as  he  entered 
the  Council  Lodge  each  one  became 
silent.  When  I  entered  the  chiefs  were 
already  gathered  about  the  corpse  and 
stood  there,  grave  &  quiet,  regarding 
the  dead.  The  silence  was  profound, 
only  the  scrape  of  a  moccasined  foot 
or  the  rustle  of  a  garment  as  some  one 
entered  &  took  a  seat  broke  it. 

At  last,  when  all  seemed  there,  For- 
rest, who  stood  at  the  head,  laid  his 
sprig  of  hemlock  on  the  dead  man's 
breast  &  in  his  deep,  gentle  voice  said: 

"Farewell,  Brother!  Living  or  dead 
we  do  not  forget  you!" 

Then  he  stood  aside. 


62    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 


Not  another  word  was    spoken. 

One  by  one,  the  chiefs  first,  the  peo- 
ple came  up  &  laid  down  their  sprigs 
of  green  till  the  corpse  was  buried  deep 
in  a  fragrant  pile  of  hemlock,  cedar, 
pine,  birch,  lycopodium,  sweet  bay  and 
spice-bush. 

When  all  had  done,  the  chiefs  took 
up  the  bier,  and  bore  it,  at  the  head  of 
the  silent  people,  down  into  the  valley 
to  the  crematory,  a  plain,  stone  stru6lure 
in  a  side  hill,  over  the  door  of  which 
these  simple,  suggestive  words  were 
deeply  cut  in  the  rock: 

**Chan8c    Peace    Rope'' 

And  then  the  people  dispersed  to 
their  homes. 

Afterward,  I  am  told,  the  chiefs  took 
the  ashes  to  Council  Hill  &  scattered 
them  in  the  Grove,  from  a  poetic  feeling 
that  the  dead  should  not  be  separated 


The  Dweli.ers  in  Vale  Sunrise    6^ 

from  the  gathering-place  of  the  people, 
but  their  ashes  help  to  make  green  & 
shadeful  the  trees  over  the  living. 

Of  course  there  is  no  necessary  agree- 
ment or  similarity  in  any  ceremony  here, 
but  I  am  told  that  this,  which  I  had  wit- 
nessed, was  the  usual  form  of  funeral. 

It  made  a  deep  impression  on  me.  ^I 
think  I  never  witnessed,  in  all  my  life 
before,  anything  so  simple,  poetic,  sig- 
nificant. 

Think  of  it,  no  coffin,  no  black  robes, 
no  music,  no  flattering,  tear- drawing 
speeches,;  nothing  but  the  few  touch- 
ing words,  the  eloquent  silence,  &  the 
evergreens  so  symbolic,  if  you  please, 
of  continued  life  and  enduringr  remem- 
brance. 

Do  you  not  notice  that  it  fits  any 
life,  or  belief  or  unbelief? 

Your  rejuvenated  brother — 

Felton. 


CHAPTER    VII 


]Y  dear  friend,  Hillford: 

You  complain  that  it  is 
a  long  while  since  I  wrote 
you  ?  That  is  true,  &  I  may 
as  well  make  a  clean  breast  of  it.  I 
have  fallen  in  love,  and  did  not  know 
how  to  tell  you  about  it  and  yet  could 
think  of  nothing  else. 

Do  not  laugh,  please.  I  know  I  am 
small  &  weak  &  insignificant,  and  no 
longer  young,  but  I  am  loved,  at  least, 
and  in  that  consciousness  I  envy  no 
man  alive. 

I  must  tell  you  about  Her.  You  know 
I  have  always  been  conscious  that  I  was 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    65 

homely  &  unattra6\ive,  and  while  I  have 
worshipped  woman  at  a  distance  I  have 
kept  the  secret  locked  in  my  own  heart, 
because  they  did  not  seem  to  notice  me, 
and  I  was  too  sensitive  &  timid  to  risk 
repulsion.  And  so  in  late  years  I  had 
grown  accustomed  to  singleness,  and 
thought  myself  contented,  and  ignored 
the  sex. 

But  on  the  Tribe  Day  when  I  rode 
up  from  Ripple  ford  on  Forrest's  horse, 
I  noted,  by  an  attraction  I  could  not 
explain,  a  woman  who  rode  in  the  cav- 
alcade Perhaps  it  was  because  she 
seemed  so  tall  and  strong,  like  a  man, 
just  such  a  man  as  I  would  like  to  have 
been.  A  grave,  quiet  woman,  with  plain, 
strong  features  &  long  braids  of  tawny 
hair.  Her  eyes  were  of  auburn-brown, 
(my  favorite  color)  and  once  or  twice 
I  thought  I  caught  them  fixed  on  me. 
She    rode    her    horse    like  an  Amazon 


66    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

and    seemed  very   silent    and    reticent. 

In  spite  of  myself  I  was  curious  about 
her,  and  little  by  little  gathered  fa6ts. 
She  had  joined  the  Tribe  in  the  early 
days,  and  no  one  knew  her  previous 
history.  In  receiving  applicants  the 
Tribe  never  asks  credentials,  but  goes 
altogather  by  the  test  of  probation.  If 
you  a(5t  like  a  man  desirous  &  capable 
of  living  a  helpful,  brotherly  life  the 
Tribe  will  receive  you,  no  matter  what 
your  previous  life  has  been.  I  am  told 
that  man}'  a  good  man  here  was  once  be- 
hind the  bars. 

A  curious  thing  was  her  name,  Planer 
Heartwood.  And  not  a  tribal -name, 
either,  but  the  one  she  herself  had 
given.  I  felt  it  was  an  assumed  name 
because  she  followed  the  strange  trade 
(for  a  woman)  of  cabinet-maker.  No 
man  in  the  Tribe  could  excel  her  in 
making    massive    artistic  furniture  and 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    67 

in  the  use  of  the  plane.  Forrest  West- 
wood  is  a  name  that  fits  the  man,  yet 
came  by  chance,  but  her  name,  I  felt 
sure,  was  no  chance. 

Moved  by  I  hardly  know  what  im- 
pulse, I  got  board,  during  my  proba- 
tion, with  the  family  next  south  of  her 
on  the  ridge  on  which  she  lived,  which 
is  next  west  of  Council  Hill.  I  could 
pass  her  cottage,  then,  every  day.  She 
lived  all  alone  in  a  most  curious  place. 
A  square  two-story  stru6lure  of  stone, 
with  a  flat,  battlemented  roof,  was  first; 
the  lower  part  her  living  room,  the  up- 
per part  her  chamber.  The  rest  of  the 
house,  a  long,  low,  one-story  wing,  with 
many  odd,  old-fashioned  windows.  This 
was  her  shop  &  at  the  end  of  it  was 
her  horse's  stable.  The  whole  structure, 
to  the  casual  view,  like  a  quaint  little 
church. 
She  kept  much  to  herself  &  talked  little. 


6S    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

Her  recreation  was  to  wander  alone 
and  study  natural  history.  ^Only  when 
a  baby  was  sick  would  she  cast  aside 
her  reserve,  and  go  at  once  &  tenderly 
nurse  it,  and  the  mothers,  who  loved 
her,  tho  a  little  in  awe  of  her,  used  to 
say  her  very  touch  was  curative.  And 
the  children  all  loved  her,  tho  she  usu- 
ally only  smiled  at  them  as  she  passed. 
But  the  men  left  her  alone,  mostly,  as 
one  unsocial  &  too  man-like.  Never- 
theless she  was  so  wise  in  council  that 
in  times  of  emergency  her  advice  was 
always  asked,  and  she  was  accounted 
one  of  the  chiefs.  Theodora  Earle 
seemed  her  only  intimate  friend. 

When  resting,  or  in  holiday  attire, 
she  wore  a  long,  plain  gown  of  olive- 
green  or  perhaps  old-gold  tint,  falling 
ungirdled  to  the  ankles,  open  at  the 
throat  &  with  flowing  sleeves,  her  heavy 
hair    in    two    braids    down    her    back. 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    69 

When  at  work,  or  out  exercising,  she 
coiled  her  hair  on  her  head  and  wore 
bloomers  &  in  the  shop  a  workman's 
apron. 

One  afternoon  I  had  gone  alone  to 
Council  Grove,  and  was  sitting  apart 
under  a  great  hemlock,  carving  a  pic- 
ture-frame. It  was  a  curious  design  of 
my  own  making — a  slender  panel  pic- 
ture for  each  quarter  of  the  frame — a 
glimpse  of  landscape  on  either  side 
water  &  lilies  below,  &  branches  atop. 
I  was  working  away  with  quiet  pleas- 
ure when  T  heard  the  light  step  of  a 
sandal, and, looking  up,  saw  Planer  stand- 
ing beside  me.  My  heart  gave  a  great 
bound  &  I  blushed,  I  know,  tho  I  was 
very  glad.  She  looked  like  a  Greek 
goddess  to  me,  so  tall  &  majestic,  with 
her  heavy  braids  &  sandalled  feet,  and 
the  old-gold  robe  bordered  at  the  hem 
with  a  Greek  pattern  in  olive-green. 


70    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

I  don't  know  what  I  said,  but  she 
sat  down  cahnly  beside  me. 

"You  do  beautiful  work,"  she  said, 
quietly. 

"Oh  no!"  I  stammered,  "but  I 
want  to." 

She  reached  out  her  left  hand  (and  I 
noticed  how  strong  &  shapely  it  was) 
and  running  her  finger  appreciatively 
along  the  lines  of  the  design  said  simply: 

^^That  is  beautiful." 

I  was  thrilled,  but  did  not  know  what 
to  reply. 

After  a  few  minutes  she  asked  me: 

"Do   I  disturb  you?" 

"Oh  no,  indeed  !"  I  hastened  to  say, 
"I  am  glad  to  have  you  here." 

Again  there  was  silence,  &  then  she 
said,  "  I  wish  I  could  draw  and  carve 
like  that,  but  I  can  only  work  by  rule 
&  measure.  1  never  could  do  free-hand 
work." 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    71 

"But  how  perfectly  you  do  your 
work!"  I  cried.  Look  at  the  mitres  on 
this  frame  !  I  am  ashamed  of  them  ! 
I  never  could  make  anything  straight 
or  square!" 

"Bring  it  to  my  shop,  tomorrow," 
she  said,  "and  I  will  fix  them  for  you." 

I  blundered  out  my  thanks,  &  then 
there  was  a  long  silence,  while  I  carved 
and  she  watched  me.  Then  in  her  calm, 
passionless  voice  she  asked  me: 

"Are  you  happy  here?" 

"Oh  very  happy!"  I  said,  "I  never 
knew  vv^hat  happiness  was  before.  Are 
not  you  ?" 

"No!"  she  said,  suddenly  rising,  and 
I  thought  for  once  there  was  a  little 
quiver  in  the  even  tones.  "I  am  lone- 
some," and  she  walked  away,  leaving 
me  churned  about  by  the  most  confli6t- 
ing  emotions. 

I  could  not  carve  any  more  that  day, 


72    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

I  could  not  sleep  that  night.  I  knew 
now  that  I  loved  her.  And  what  did 
she  mean  by  seeking  me  out  &  talking 
to  me  in  that  way? 

The  next  day  I  went  eagerly  with 
my  frame  to  her  shop.  The  door  stood 
open,  and  she  nodded  &  smiled  to  me 
from  her  bench  as  I  entered.  She  took 
the  frame  apart  with  skillful  fingers,  & 
while  with  smooth,  clean  strokes  of  her 
plane  she  adjusted  the  mitres  I  looked 
about  the  shop. 

It  was  a  long,  sunny  room,  scrupu- 
lously clean  for  a  work-shop.  The  floor, 
of  hard  wood,  was  littered  with  saw- 
dust &  fresh  shavings.  You  could  look 
way  up  into  the  steep  roof  &  see  the 
rafters  and  ridge-pole,  while  on  great 
beams,  reaching  from  plate  to  plate,  lay 
planks  and  sticks  of  the  timber  from 
which  she  worked  out  her  chairs  and 
tables.     The  walls  were    panelled    and 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    73 

wainscoated  from  floor  to  plate,  and 
hung  with  glittering  tools.  And  all  up 
and  down  the  room,  on  both  sides,  & 
up  in  the  roof,  were  windows;  windows 
large  &  windows  small,  round  &  square 
and  pointed;  bay  windows,  gothic  win- 
dows, dormer  windows;  with  single 
panes,  square  panes,  lozenge  panes, 
painted  panes;  windows  that  lifted  with 
weights,  windows  that  slid  on  rollers, 
windows  that  turned  on  pivots,  win- 
dows that  opened  on  hinges  as  case- 
ments—  it  was  an  exhibition  of  win- 
dows. The  effect  was  strangely  cheer- 
ful and"  pi6luresque. 

A  tame  robin  hopped  in  &  out  of  an 
open  casement  and  on  to  her  bench, 
the  head  of  her  horse  looked  in  over  a 
Dutch  half-door  from  the  stable,  kittens 
played  in  the  shavings,  doves  cooed  on 
the  roof,  and  at  the  upper  end  of  the 
room  I  looked  thru  an  open  door  into 
her  living  room. 


74    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

After  the  frame  was  finished,  with 
smooth  invisible  joints  that  made  me 
envious  with  admiration,  she  took  me 
into  that  room  &  showed  me  the  plain, 
massive  table,  antique  seats,  hardwood 
floor  and  panelled  walls. 

*^This  room  is  all  my  own  work,"  she 
said,  proudly,  "I  laid  the  floor,  flnished 
the  walls  and  ceiling,  and  made  every 
wooden  thing  here,  even  the  mantel  & 
mirror-frame." 

I  noticed  that  the  only  ornament  was 
the  beautiful  grain  of  the  woods  brought 
out  with  plane  and  polish.  There  was 
not  a  pi6fure,  or  a  bit  of  bric-a-brac, 
not  a  sign  of  carving,  or  a  moulding,  or 
even  a  line  of  bead-work.  All  was  mas- 
sive wood  and  polished  grain,  matched 
with  perfection  of  the  joiner's  art. 

"How  do  you  like  it?"  she  said. 

''It  is  beautiful,"  I  said,  "beautiful 
exceedingly,  and  unique,  but — " 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    75 


"But  you  think  it  a  little  severe  and 
cold"  she  interrupted.  "Yes,  it  suddenly 
looked  that  way  to  me  lately.  But  what 
could  I  do?  I  wanted  everything  here 
made  by  my  own  hand,  &  I  do  not  like 
conventional,  pretty  things.  I  cannot 
carve,  I  cannot  draw  like  you.  I  can 
only  plane,  &  so  I  did  the  best  I  could." 

I  had  not  meant  to  criticise,  only  to 
suggest  a  few  appropriate  ornaments,  & 
I  tried  to  reassure  her,  but  she  would 
not  be  comforted.  She  looked  around 
with  deep  dissatisfaction. 

"It  is  too  hard!"  she  said. 

Suddenly  she  broke  out  again: 

"Are  you  making  that  frame  for  any 
one  in  particular?" 

"No." 

"If  you  will  give  it  to  me  I  will 
hang  it  on  my  wall,  and  I  will  make 
a  chair  for  you,  just  such  a  one  as  you 
will  choose." 


76    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

"My  dear  friend,  I  will  not  only  give 
you  the  frame,  but  every  bit  of  carving 
I  have  that  you  may  like,  if  you  will 
put  it  here.  But  I  do  not  want  you  to 
make  me  things  in  exchange.  I  want 
to  give  you  the  carving." 

She  smiled,  the  first  smile  I  had  ever 
seen  on  her  face  except  some  faint  one 
of  salutation,  &  it  made  her  beautiful. 

"My  dear  friend,  I  did  not  offer  the 
chair  in  exchange.  I  want  the  pleasure 
of  making  you  a  gift,"  and  she  placed 
her  large,  warm  hand  in  mine. 

I  was  so  pleased  that  I  bent  over  & 
kissed  it,  then  looked  up  a  little  fright- 
ened at  my  own  daring.  She  took  her 
hand  away  &  colored  slightly,  but  did 
not  seem  displeased,  tho  she  was  silent. 

We  were  both  a  little  confused,  and 
to  cover  it  I  said: 

"But  you  wanted  nothing  in  this  room 
but  what  vou  made  yourself  ?" 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    77 

She  not  onl}-  smiled  this  time  but 
laughed,  &  it  was  very  pleasant  to  see. 

''A  friend  is  the  best  part  of  your- 
self," and  again  she  held  out  her  hand 
and  this  time  I  was  not  afraid  to  press 
it  warmly. 

''But  what  will  you  put  in  the  frame  ?" 

"I  will  have  my  friend  draw  me  a 
picture." 

Suddenly  a  rush  of  power  and  con- 
fidence came  over  me. 

"I  never  drew  a  portrait  in  my  life 
except  that  sketchy  thing  of  Forrest 
that  I  scratched  with  my  knife-point 
on  a  board,  but  if  you  will  put  on  that 
gown  I  saw  yesterday  and  sit  on  the 
roots  of  that  big  tree  out  there  I  will 
draw  your  picture  for  the  frame.  I  will 
go  home  &  get  pencil  &  paper  .while 
you  change  your  dress." 

"You  are  very  good,"  she  said,  and 
gave    me    another    of    those    heavenly 


78    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

smiles,  &  then  I  left  her  &  rushed  home. 

When  I  got  back  she  was  sitting 
calmly  beneath  the  tree  with  the  gown 
on  and  her  long  braids  down.  I  did 
not  say  a  word,  but  sitting  down  I  drew 
as  I  never  drew  before.  I  felt  serene, 
strong,  confident,  &  wondered,  yet  ex- 
ulted, at  the  firm,  clean,  delicate  strokes 
of  my  pencil  and  the  feeling  and  ac- 
curacy of  my  work. 

It  was  like  watching  the  work  of 
another  person. 

When  I  had  finished  and  showed  her 
the  picture  a  light  came  into  her  eyes, 
and  she  looked  at  me  in  a  way  that 
thrilled   me. 

"I  am  proud  of  you,  my  friend," 
she  said,  "vou  are  an  artist." 

Again  I  kissed  her  hand. 

''Tou  are  my  inspiration,"  I   said. 

"I  shall  put  this  picture  in  the  frame 
and    the    frame    and    pi(?ture    will    be 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    79 

the    dearest    treasure    of    mv    house." 
But  I  am  writing  you  a  tremendous 
letter.     I  will  stop  and  tell  you  the  rest 
another  time. 

Happily— 

Felton. 


CHAPTER    VIII 


dear  Hill  ford: 

You  are  very  good,  old 
man,  to  be  so  interested.     I 
will  try  not  to  write  you  such 
a  volume  this  time. 

Well,  I  was  in  heaven  when  she  ac- 
cepted my  pi6ture,  and  until  the  next 
day  at  noon.  But  when  the  next  after- 
noon I  rushed  to  her  shop,  to  my  dis- 
may all  was  silent.  She  was  not  there 
and  her  horse  was  gone,  too.  My  heart 
sank,  but  I  waited  until  the  next  after- 
noon—and again  she  was  gone.  I  could 
not  stand  it — she  was  avoiding  me,  & 
why? — had  I  offended  her?  I  must  find 
out.     I    peered   in  the  window  of    her 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    8i 

living  room  and  there  on  the  wall  hung 
my  pi6lure.  No,  she  was  not  offended, 
but  something  was  wrong.  I  resolved 
to  go  &  get  a  horse  and  ride  too,  till 
I  found  her.  But  on  my  way  home  I 
saw  a  boy  who  had  come  across  from 
Council  Grove.  I  knew  Planer  some- 
times got  him  to  do  errands  for  her  & 
asked  him  if  he  knew  wheie  she  was. 

"Yes,"  he  replied,  "she  is  down 
there,"  pointing  behind  him  into  the  ra- 
vine-like valley  between  the  two  ridges. 

"What  is  she  doing?" 

With  all  the  innocence  of  a  child  he 
looked  up  at  me,  as  if  a  little  puzzled 
by  something  half  fogotten,  and  said, 
"She  is  sitting  under  a  big  tree,  crying." 

I  said  no  more,  &  let  the  child  pass 
on,  but  the  moment  he  was  out  of  sight 
I  hurried  into  the  glen,  which  was  nar- 
row and  rocky  and  shaded  by  great 
hemlocks.      I  turned  off  from  the  path 


82    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

when  I  came  to  the  stream  &  went  up 
a  little  way  and  saw  her  horse  standing 
there  tied.  And  near  by  she  sat,  un- 
der a  tree,  with  her  head  bowed  and 
her  face  in  her  hands. 

I  could  not  stand  that,  but,  springing 
forward,  caught  her  in  my  arms  and 
drew  her  to  my  breast  and  let  my  love 
and  tenderness  flow  out  in  a  torrent  of 
words  that  astonished  even  mj^self  and 
sounded  in  my  ears  like  those  of  another 
person. 

She  did  not  resist  me,  or  speak  a 
word,  but  lay  back  in  my  arms  like  a 
tired  child  till  I  was  done,  only  a  great 
sob,  or  a  sigh,  shaking  her  at  intervals. 

When  I  was  thru  she  was  quiet  a 
few  moments,  while  I  waited  in  sus- 
pense, but  full  of  the  joy  of  holding 
her,  and  then,  slowly  releasing  herself 
from  my  embrace,  lifted  herself  to  her 
feet  and  faced  me  with  a  look  of  inex- 
pressible sadness. 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    83 


^'Dear  friend,"  she  said,  "I  love  you 
even  as  you  love  me,  but  you  do  not 
know  me  yet.  When  you  know  all, 
your  love  may  die.  I  am  going  home 
now.  Please  do  not  follow  me.  I  will 
not  keep  you  waiting.  Let  the  end  come 
quickly.    I  will  tell  you  all  and  soon." 

And  going  to  her  horse  she  mounted 
and  rode  sadl}^  away,  without  a  glance 
behind,  leaving  me  amazed  at  her  words. 

The  next  day  a  heavy  envelope  came 
to  me  &  I  found  it  contained  a  confes- 
sion  from  her. 

It  was  a  sad  story. 

She  had  been  born  in  England,  her 
mother  dying  in  her  infancy,  and  had 
been  raised  &  cared  for  by  her  father, 
a  cabinet-maker. 

She  spent  her  childhood  in  his  shop, 
playing  among  the  shavings  and  with 
his  tools,  and  he  had  deliirhted  to  teach 
her  to  plane  and  saw  and  hammer.    She 


84    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

grew  up  a  strong,  healthy,  headstrong 
girl,  fond  of  helping  him  at  his  work 
by  da}^  and  of  reading  to  him  at  night. 
Then  came  a  time  of  bliss,  followed 
by  an  age  of  pain.  A  young  gentle- 
man, who  had  been  her  father's  patron, 
courted  her  and  she,  loving  &  trusting 
him  as  an  innocent  girl  will,  was  be- 
trayed and  then  abandoned.  When  her 
child  was  born  her  father  loved  her 
still,  but  felt  deeply  the  social  stain. 
Meeting  the  betrayer  one  day  there 
were  words  and  blows,  and  the  rugged 
old  man  struck  down  the  dastard  with 
a  broken  jaw.  He  was  arrested  and 
imprisoned  for  murderous  assault.  He 
was  not  sentenced  severely,  and  was 
not  long  in  jail,  but  his  spirit  was  bro- 
ken, a  prison-caught  cold  ended  in  pneu- 
monia and  he  died.  Then  his  daughter, 
whose  real  name  was  Grace  Bedford, 
said  to  herself: — ^'^ly  name  is  Disgrace 


The  Dwellers  ln  Vale  Sunrise    85 

now,  I  will  go  off  somewhere  &  change 
it  and  lead  a  new  life.'^ 

And  while  she  planned  it  her  baby 
died  of  scarletina,  and  in  her  sorrow 
and  bitterness  she  said  she  would  no 
longer  be  a  woman,  and  selling  her 
cottage  she  came  to  America  and  took 
the  dress  of  a  man,  the  name  of  Planer 
Heartwood,  and  set  up  a  cabinet-shop 
of  her  own. 

And  so  she  lived  for  years,  holding 
her  secret,  until  getting  acquainted  with 
Theodora  she  confided  in  her  and  was 
persuaded  to  join  in  the  Tribe  experi- 
ment in  her  true  guise  as  a  woman. 
But  her  old  name  she  would  not  re- 
sume. And  here  she  had  lived  ever 
since.  But  her  sorrow  and  loneliness 
had  never  left  her  and  lately  had  rather 
increased. 

x\nd  then  she  wrote  of  her  feeling 
for  me  and  that  was  the  dearest  part  of 
her  letter. 


86    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

She  had  felt,  she  said,  from  her  first 
look  at  me  that  I  was  not  like  other 
men.  I  was  not  so  strong,  and  not  con- 
fident in  my  own  powers,  and  I,  too^ 
had  suffered  and  was  sad. 

But  she  felt  (she  said)  that  I  had  a 
beautiful  &  loving  nature,  &  was  sym- 
pathetic and  intuitive  and  yet  lonesome. 
And  she  felt  I  would  understand  a 
woman  and  be  good  to  her.  And  so 
she  came  to  think  about  me  and  wish 
I  might  be  her  friend.  But  she  had 
never  thought  of  more  than  friendship. 
And  she  felt,  somehow,  that  I  liked  her 
too,  but  time  went  on,  and  I  did  not 
approach  her,  &  she  saw  I  looked  hap- 
pier &  less  lonesome  all  the  time,  and 
so  at  last  she  grew  desperate  &  resolved 
to  make  advances  herself. 

And  after  that  all  went  with  a  rush 
&  before  she  knew  it  she  found  I  was 
loving  her  and  she  me.    And  then  she 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    87 

had  resolved  to  avoid  me,  because  I  had 
come  only  lately  from  the  world,  and 
would  be  sure  to  feel  as  people  do  there, 
and  hold  her  a  thing  despised  if  I  knew 
all,  &  she  had  hastened  to  confess  that 
the  agony  might  soon  end,  and  now  I 
was  released  from  all,  and  she  would 
say  good  bye. 

It  was  a  pitiful  epistle,  simple  and 
sad,  and  stained  by  many  tears,  and  it 
made  me  cry  to  read  it. 

Well,  Hill  lord,  you  may  be  sure  I 
did  not  waste  much  time  after  that. 
What  did  I  care  if  she  had  been  the 
mother  of  six  love-babies  I  Nothing 
could  "ruin"  a  nature  as  sweet  as  hers. 
She  was  good,  &  that  settled  it,  and  I 
loved  her  above  all  the  women  in  the 
world  and  never  could   do  less. 

So  I  went  straight  to  her  shop  and 
found  her  in  this  time.  And  I  opened 
her  door  without    a    knock    and     went 


88    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

right    in  &  took    her  in    my  arms  and 
said: 

"Well,  Dear  Heart,  I  have  come  to 
P    stay  this  time.    You  are  a  good  joiner, 
suppose  you  join  me?" 
That  is  all  for  this  time. 

Felton. 


CHAPTER  IX 


EAR  Hillford: 

My  mind  has  been 
so  disturbed  lately  that  I  have 
neglecSled  to  tell  you  anything 
more  about  the  ways  of  my  brother 
Simplicists,  but  now  I  am  steadied 
again  I  will  resume. 

Nothing  strikes  me  more  here  than 
the  Nature-love  of  the  people.  That 
is  indeed,  when  you  come  to  notice  it, 
their  most  Indian-like  characteristic. 
They  love  Nature,  wild  Nature,  more 
than  anything  else  and  seem  to  want  a 
wide  margin  of  it  about  everything  they 
do.  Each  member  is  allowed  an  acre 
of  ground  to  set  his  house  on  &  almost 
invariably,  I  notice,  instead  of  clearing 


90    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

and  artificializing  this  spot  as  the 
"world's  people"  would  do,  the  tribes- 
men change  its  wild  look  just  as  little 
as  possible.  The  house  stands  there, 
usually,  among  the  trees,  bushes  &  rocks 
as  if  it  had  grown  there,  like  a  tree, 
itself.  The  wild  runs  to  the  very  door- 
step and  often  the  house  itself  is  satu- 
rated with  it.  Great  pride  is  taken  in 
a  home  that  corresponds  to  its  wild 
environment.  As  an  extreme  example 
let  me  tell  you  of  the  home  of  a  very 
ardent  disciple  of  Forrest,  designed  by 
himself. 

It  looks  like  a  conical  pile  or  peak 
of  rocks,  tapering  up  on  all  sides  from 
a  broad  base,  irregularly,  to  a  sharp 
pinnacle  in  the  middle.  The  cement 
joints  are  cleverly  hidden,  the  rocks  are 
covered  with  moss,  lichens  &  vines,  and 
even  the  doors  and  windows  are  like 
irregular  embrasures  or  cave-openings; 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    91 


some  of  the  upper  windows  having  crag- 
like balconies.  It  is  really  a  tiny  two- 
story  cottage,  most  comfortable  and 
weather-proof,  and  charmingly  unique 
and  beautiful. 

Exotics  are  little  prized  here,  but  the 
beauties  of  American  flora  are  appre- 
ciated to  an  extreme.  The  roads  all 
over  the  settlement  are  very  good,  and 
made  with  great  care,  but  they  are  never 
formal  &  rectangular,  but  wind  up  and 
down  the  hills  and  in  &  out  the  valleys 
as  if  seeking  the  most  picturesque  nooks 
and  romantic  vistas,  which  is  indeed 
the  case.  On  each  side  of  the  road  is 
a  graveled  footwalk,  separated  from  the 
road  by  a  wild  hedge  four  feet  wide, 
&  another  such  hedge,  of  similar  width 
and  wildness,  separates  the  path  from 
the  adjacent  fields.  These  hedges  are 
most  beautiful  and  interesting  and  the 
delight  of  the  people.    If  you  criticize 


92    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

their  economy,  they  will  tell  you  that 
wild  birds  as  inse6l  killers  are  the  most 
valuable  stock  a  farm  can  have,  and  a 
wild-hedge  the  ideal  breeding  place  for 
a  bird.  In  brief  these  hedges  are  dedi- 
cated to  birds  and  botanists. 

Here  &  there  a  tall  tree  is  permitted 
in  them  for  pi6turesque  effe6l,  but 
usually  all  tall-growing  trees  are  half- 
severed,  when  about  twenty-five  feet 
high,  and  bent  down  &  pleached  into 
the  hedge.  This  is  all  the  interference 
that  is  m.ade,  except  to  prevent  the  in- 
vasion of  the  fields  and  the  choking  of 
the  path.  For  the  rest,  whatever  shrub, 
flower,  briar,  weed,  moss  or  vine  finds 
rooting  there  grows  undisturbed  by  man 
unless  some  special  vista  needs  to  be 
kept  open. 

To  walk  along  one  of  these  shady 
footwalks  on  a  summer's  day,  with  the 
shrubs    arching    overhead   (an   endless 


The  Dwei.i.ers  in  Vale  Sunrise    93 

lover's  lane)  and  peer  into  these  strange 
wild  hedges  on  either  side,  which  change 
in  appearance  &  vegetation  with  every 
turn,  is  to  me  a  perpetual  delight.  They 
are  full  of  birds'  nests,  and  the  birds 
so  tame  that  they  build  or  sit  within 
reach  of  your  hand  with  perfect  fear- 
lessness. I  have  seen  a  dozen  people 
standing  about  a  nest  in  the  hedge, 
watching  the  bright-eyed  mother  calmly 
sitting  there  with  never  a  tremor.  The 
people  do  not  pet  a  wild  thing;  they 
say,  you  spoil  its  wildness  so,  we  want 
to  see  it  wild  and   natural. 

I  wish,  my  dear  Ilillford,  you  could 
walk  along  one  of  these  footpaths,  /;/- 
side  a  hedge  one  might  say,  and  see 
the  flickering  rays  of  sunshine  falling 
on  leaf  &  flower  &  moss,  see  squirrels 
or  rabbits  hop  fearlessly  along  before 
you,  and  robins,  catbirds,  thrushes  sing- 
ing   everywhere    or    flitting    across    or 


94    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

peering  at  you  from  nests  on  either  side. 
Especially  is  it  lovely  in  early  morning 
or  late  afternoon,  when  the  level  sun- 
rays  pierce  the  hedge  and  fall  in  bars 
across  the  way. 

This  spirit  is  everywhere,  &  it  would 
rejoice  Wilson  Flagg  to  see  how  every 
field  is  bordered  by  its  hedge  or  its 
stone-wall.  These  people  clear  their 
fields,  or  cut  their  trees,  or  build  their 
houses  with  an  apology  to  Nature,  so 
to  speak  (as  some  Indians  kill  bears) 
and  make  the  offence  in  every  way  as 
little  marked  as  possible.  Therefore  as 
fruit-growing  occupies  a  great  part  of 
their  attention,  and  orchards  are  every- 
where, a  semi-forest  look  hangs  over 
the  whole  domain.  And  not  content 
with  all  this  deference  to  Nature  thev 
have  set  apart  a  certain  section  of  their 
lands  as  sacred  to  her.  This  they  call 
the  "San6tuary."     It    is  a  wild  ravine. 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise    95 

beginning  just  above  the  crematory  & 
running  away  to  the  southwest  corner 
of  their  tra6l.  A  chaos  of  rocks,  trees, 
streams  and  bogs,  and  pra6tically  irre- 
claimable for  culture.  This  is  sacred 
to  wild  nature.  No  tree  is  ever  cut 
here,  no  flower  plucked,  no  stone  quar- 
ried, no  animal  hunted,  no  sign  of  man's 
handiwork  permitted  to  remain.  This 
was  Forrest's  idea.  The  efle6t  is  already 
sublime  and  I  love  to  go  with  Planer 
and  wander  in  its  primitive  recesses. 
It  is  like  a  trip  to  another  world. 

There  are  many  other  ways  in  which 
this  love  of  Nature  is  shown. 

In  the  summer  time,  on  fine  nights, 
sleeping  out  of  doors  is  the  usual  cus- 
tom; wrapped  in  their  gay  blankets, 
you  will  find  these  people  everywhere, 
on  the  ground,  or  in  hammocks,  or  on 
flat-topped  houses,  or  in  open  wagons, 
sleeping  under  the  stars. 


g6    The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

Much  of  their  eating  is  out  of  doors, 
too. 

Many  of  them  move  out  of  their 
houses  altogether,  when  warm  weather 
comes,  and    live   in  tents  &  wigwams. 

The  same  love  of  Nature  peeps  out 
in  their  dislike  of  the  restraints  of  cloth- 
ing. Were  it  not  for  the  surveillance 
of  American  law  &  American  custom 
I  cannot  tell  to  what  lengths  some  would 
go.  Certainly  there  is  nothing  in  pub- 
lic opinion  here  to  prevent  one  from 
being  as  naked  as  one  might  in  Japan, 
tho  probably  the  majority  would  not 
personallv  desire  it.  In  warm  weather 
the  babies  usually  go  entirely  naked  and 
up  to  the  age  of  ten  years  all  the  chil- 
dren wear  the  least  possible  clothing — 
a  single  tunic  perhaps,  or  a  loin  cloth 
like  Forrest  wears.  And  quite  a  clique 
of  enthusiastic  young  men  are  special 
disciples  of  Forrest  and  follow  his  ex- 
ample in   nudity  very  closely. 


The  Dwellers  in, Vale  Sunrise    97 


Sandals  on  bare  feet  are  almost  uni- 
versal in  hot  weather;  few  of  the  men 
then  wear  anything  below  the  knee,  & 
it  is  common  to  see  workmen  stripped 
to  the  waist.  Throats  are  generally  open 
at  all  seasons  and  more  than  half  the 
people  wear  no  hats. 

I  wish  I  had  the  ability  to  tell  you 
of  all  the  strange,  striking,  pi6turesque 
garments  these  people  have  invented, 
but  only  a  series  of  pi6lures  could  do 
it.  But  perhaps  you  can  understand 
that  a  community  of  thousands  of  artistic 
people,  who  have  utterly  emancipated 
themselves  from  convention  and  are  a 
law  unto  themselves,  would  achieve 
remarkable  results  in  costuminj^. 

I  will  only  say  that  almost  all  the 
fabrics,  woven  or  knitted  here,  are  in 
mesh  of  greater  or  less  openness  so  that 
air  gets  freely  to  the  skin. 

With  love  alwavs —  Felton. 


CHAPTER  X 


EAR  Hillford: 

Yes,  of  course  you 
want  to  know  how  we  all 
make  a  living  here,  and  I 
will  try  to  give  you  some  idea.  In  the 
first  place  remember  that  we  are  to  a 
great  extent  communists  and  the  com- 
munity plan  permits  more  economy  than 
any  other  social  form.  A  great  amount 
of  expense  is  saved  by  our  co-operating 
as  partners  in  one  lirm.  We  are  on  an 
agricultural  basis.  There  are  individ- 
ual farms  &  gardens,  but  most  of  the 
farming  and  gardening  is  done  on  the 
community  plan,  and  even  where  a  man 
runs  his  bit  of  ground  on  his  own  lines 
it  is  often  included  in  the  community 


The  Dwellers  in^Vale  Sunrise    99 

farm — that  is  they  let  him  do  the  work, 
but  share  expenses  &  profits  with  him. 
Many  mechanics  work  that  way,  too, 
Phmer  for  one  (while  others  work  in 
the  communit}'  shops)  and  almost  all  the 
professional  artists  &  literary  workers. 
The  community  has  a  communal 
farm,  with  orchards,  pastures,  meadows, 
grain -fields,  poultry- yards,  gardens, 
granaries,  barns,  stables  ;  a  communal 
boarding-house,  or  "Unitary  Flome," 
with  communal  kitchen,  dining-hall, 
dairy,  butcher-shop,  weaving  looms,  etc., 
etc.,  etc. — in  brief  a  very  complete  and 
pra6tically  self-supporting,  self-supply- 
ing, agricultural  &  industrial  common- 
wealth. ^There  is  a  fine  tannery  and 
wlienever  an  animal  dies  or  is  killed, 
even  to  a  dog  or  a  cat,  it  is  skinned 
by  a  professional  fiayer  and  the  skin 
tanned.  The  qualit}-  of  the  work  is 
celebrated.  Most  of  the  smaller  skins 
are  tanned  after  the  Indian  manner  and 


loo  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

come  out  like  buckskin,  soft,  velvety, 
smoky,  and  are  much  worn  by  the  peo- 
ple, especially  for  winter  clothing.  Some 
are  tanned  with  fur  on.  Leather  and 
skin-work  is  a  prominent  industrial 
feature.  The  skins  of  lambs  are  worked 
up  into  vests,  jackets  &  caps,  with  the 
wool  on,  like  Astrachan  goods;  dog  and 
goat  skins  are  made  into  fur  overcoats; 
calf-skins,  chosen  for  their  beauty,  with 
the  hair  on,  are  made  into  vests  and 
tunics.  There  is  much  making  of  san- 
dals, moccasins,  buskins,  leggings, 
leather-breeches;  much  ''Mexican" 
carved  leather-work,  and  a  great  deal 
of  harness-making  and  saddlery,  espec- 
ially the  manufadture  of  a  saddle  in- 
vented here,  without  a  wooden-tree, 
very  soft,  easy  &  safe,  and  with  original 
stirrups. 

A  great  many  sheep  and  long-haired 
goats  are  kept,  and  the  fleeces  are  all 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  ioi 


woven  here,  on  hand-looms,  into  cloth, 
blankets  and  rugs,  or  knitted  into  caps, 
socks,  shirts.  The  Navajo  blanket  is 
copied  with  great  success,  and  various 
Oriental  weaves  also,  and  colored  b}- 
vegetable  dyes  made  here.  Two  kinds 
of  socks  are  made  and  sold  largely  to 
outsiders.  One  is  straight  on  the  inside 
of  the  foot,  so  as  not  to  cramp  the  great 
toe,  and  the  other  has  a  special  pouch 
or  "stall"  for  the  great  toe,  so  it  can  be 
worn  with  a  certain  kind  of  sandal.  All 
rags  that  can  be  used  are  worked  up 
into  rugs  and  rag  carpets;  old  leather 
garments  cut  into  strings;  horsehair 
woven  into  cinches,  saddlecloths,  quirts, 
bridles,  watch-guards,   neck-ties. 

There  is  a  basket  shop,  already  fa- 
mous, whose  specialty  is  artistic  work. 
Indian  patterns,  freely  adapted,  are  used, 
with  rich  &  barbaric  d}'es,  and  an  in- 
hnite  variet\'  of  graceful   shapes. 


I02  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

There  is  a  brick-yard,  and  tine  bricks, 
roof-tiles  and  art-tiles  made.  Also  a 
pottery,  producing  unique  &  celebrated 
work. 

These  people  are  enthusiasts  about 
the  evolution  of  an  American  art,  and 
all  their  art  forms  &  patterns  are  prefer- 
ably drawn  from  American  sources — 
American  plant  and  animal  forms  pre- 
dominating—  with  free  adaptation  of 
Indian  suggestions. 

Then  there  is  a  o:reat  deal  of  furni- 
ture  made  in  solid,  massive,  old-fash- 
ioned style,  of  honest  hard-wood  and 
good  leather,  built  to  last. 

There  is  a  communal  grist-mill  and 
saw-mill,  and  a  communal  wood-yard. 
And  a  printing  shop  where  the  papers 
are  printed  and  fine  artistic  book- work 
done.  They  bind  most  of  their  books 
in  Indian-tanned  buckskin,  or  similar 
leather,    with    Indian    desions    on    the 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  103 

cover,  or  in  thin  boards  of  real  wood 
with  grain  beautifully  polished,  or  in 
paper  printed  in  birch-bark  or  other 
bark-patterns.  The  chara6teristic  touch 
of  the  Tribe  comes  out  in  all  thev  do. 
Some  very  quaint  and  original  books 
are  made,  one  style  being  all  in  leather. 
Everything  here,  you  know,  is  made 
on  honor,  with  the  greatest  honesty  & 
artistic  skill.  And  all  work  is  marked 
with  the  worker's  name  or  private  mark, 
as  far  as  that  is  possible.  If  sold  to 
the  outside  world  a  good  price  is  asked, 
for  we  have  nothing  cheap  in  any  sense. 
And  a  brisk  trade  of  this  kind  is  grow- 
ing. The  mail-order  business  is  large, 
and  visitors  come  from  far  and  near, 
almost  every  day  in  the  year,  and  few 
want  to  leave  without  a  souvenir  of 
Tribal  work.  The  obje6l  of  all  work 
in  the  settlement  is  first  to  supply  local 
need — only  the  surplus  being  sold.    But 


I04  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

everything  must  be  good,  and  as  beauti- 
ful as  may  be  according  to  the  maker's 
ideal.  And  such  a  reputation  has  this 
honest  and  artistic  work  attained  that 
there  is  never  any  trouble  about  sales. 
Usually  orders  are  far  ahead  of  produc- 
tion. Pra6tically  every  man  in  the  col- 
ony is  an  artist,  in  his  own  line,  and 
does  his  work  well  &  beautifully  for 
the  love  of  it.  That  is  the  ideal  here — 
not  quick  work  or  cheap  work. 

*'Not  the  cheap,  but  the  good." 

"Take  your  time  &  love  the  doing.'' 

''Have  your  conscience  in  your 
hands.'' 

''True   work  is  true  art." 

''Build  yourself  into  your  work  and 
you  build  3'ourself  by  your  work." 

"The  joy  of  the  worker  is  the  cut 
of  his  tool  &  the  color  of  his  pigment." 

"Art  is  for  the  artist.'* 

"Your  work  is  vour  credential." 


The  DwEi^i^ERS  in  Vale  SlixNRIse  105 


''Work  is  the  written  word  of  the 
inner  voice." 

These  are  a  few  of  the  man\-  mot- 
toes which  3'Oii  will  find  in  every  shop, 
or  chiseled  on  stones  &  rocks,  and  all 
breathing  the  same  inspiration  to  sin- 
cere and  self-expressive  work,  ^j  These 
people  make  their  life  a  poem. 

Most  of  their  work,  as  you  notice, 
is  hand  work,  but  they  are  beginning 
to  use  machinery  for  work  that  is  mere 
drudgery  or  repetition,  but  even  here 
everything  is  done  to  make  the  work 
attra6tive  and  the  worker  happy. 

I  had  always  heard  that  in  socialism, 
the  spur  of  acute  necessity  lacking,  men 
would  grow  lazy  &  poor  workers.  On 
the  contrary,  here,  work  is  the  joy  of 
life,  and  after  working  for  the  com- 
munity all  the  forenoon  the  majority 
spend  the  afternoon  also  in  the  enthusi- 
astic doing  of  some  bit  of  private  work 


io6  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

that  obje6tities  the  ideal.  Make  a  tour 
in  the  afternoon,  or  leisure  time,  &  you 
shall  hnd  one  writing  a  poem,  another 
carving,  another  modeling  or  chiseling, 
another  painting,  another  in  deep  study, 
another  practising  music,  another  beau- 
tifying his  home.  The  mere  produ(5lion 
of  things  to  sell,  the  mere  lust  of  pos- 
session, the  mere  accumulation  of  tire- 
some luxuries  these  people  indeed  de- 
spise. Their  joy  is  in  living  a  beautiful 
life,  taking  pleasure  in  their  labor  and 
the  fruit  of  it  as  they  go  along  &  their 
wealth  and  their  luxurv  is  that  every- 
thing  about  them  should  suggest  the 
attained  ideal.  But  too-much  is  a  nui- 
sance &  so,  while  as  esthetic  as  Greeks, 
they  are  as  simple  as  savages,  avoiding 
pomps  and  conventional   cares. 

One  source  of  revenue,  which  I  had 
almost  forgotten,  is  the  thurobred  stock. 
By  agreeing  among    themselves   never 


The  Dvveljlers  in  Vale  Sunrise  107 


to  keep  poor  stock,  and  usually  only 
one  breed  of  a  kind,  the  Simplicists  find 
purity  is  much  easier  secured  and  guar- 
anteed, as  every  breeder  can  see. 

Thus  all  their  horses  are  thurobred 
Morgans  carefully  bred  &  trained  and 
petted  like  children.  The  very  best  are 
never  sold  and  every  new^  member  of 
the  Society  is  presented  with  a  horse 
or  colt  (his  own  choice)  on  the  day  of 
his  admission,  to  remain  his  in  usufru6t 
so  long  as  he  retains  membership  and 
treats  it  kindly.  He  may  exchange  this 
horse  with  another  member,  or  give  it 
to  a  member,  but  may  on  no  terms  part 
with  it  to  an  outsider,  and  is  expected 
to  care  for  it  as  long  as  it  lives.  And 
every  clild  of  twelve  is  given  one  on 
the  same  terms.  Therefore  a  large  herd 
is  kept.  The  surplus  ones  go  with  no 
difficulty,  as  there  are  always  more  ap- 
plications than  horses  to  supply. 


io8  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

It  is  so  with  all  stock  kept.  The  sheep 
are  all  pure  bloods,  and  one  flock  of 
about  one  hundred  are  all  pure  black 
sheep,  perhaps  the  only  flock  in  the 
world,  and  their  wool,  woven  without 
dying,  is  made  into  a  black  cloth  held 
precious. 

There  is  a  herd  of  beautiful  asses, bred 
from  a  trio  brought    from  the   Orient. 

They  are  unusually  tall,  swift  and 
clean-limbed,  and  some  members  have 
chosen  them  for  riding  animals  in  pref- 
erence to  horses.  From  these  and  the 
Morgans,  by  crossing,  comes  a  splendid 
grade  of  mules,  much  used  for  the 
farm- work. 

On  the  community  farm  they  have  a 
breed  of  shepherd  dogs,  kept  for  herd- 
ing the  animals,  and  Forrest  breeds  a 
strain  of  famous  beagles,  bearing  his 
name.  But  most  of  the  Simplicists  keep 
St.  Bernards.  Only  those  three  breeds 
are  kept,  and  all   very  pure. 


The  Dwej^lers  in  Vale  Sunrise  109 


There  is  even  a  pure  breed  of  cats 
here  and  none  others  are  kept.  These 
are  all  tortoise-shell  in  color,  and  pe- 
culiarly tall,  slender  &  leopard-like  in 
outline,  very  gentle  and  intelligent,  but 
great  mousers.  The  strangest  thing  is 
that  all  kittens  are  reared  for  several 
months  in  an  aviary,  so  that  they  get 
used  to  birds,  squirrels  and  rabbits  as 
playmates  and  never  afterw^ard  molest 
them.  When  these  cats  die  their  skins 
are  made  into  beautifully  spotted  winter 
coats  and  sleigh-robes. 

There  is  only  one  breed  of  hens  kept 
—Golden  Wyandottes.  It  seems  Forrest 
had  a  strain  of  these  bred  for  eggs,  when 
the  Tribe  began.  An  expert  in  poultry 
was  one  of  the  first  members  and  he 
took  this  strain  and  began  to  develop 
it.  lie  had  a  theorv  that  if  several  thou- 
sand  hens  were  kept  under  normal  con- 
ditions   and    bred    constantly  for  vigor 


no  The  Dweljlers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

no  fresh  blood  would  be  needed.  And 
his  theory  proves  true.  Almost  every- 
body here  keeps  a  small  flock  of  these 
beautiful  fowls,  amounting  to  thousands 
in  the  aggregate,  but  no  chickens  are 
ever  hatched  except  from  matings  made 
by  the  expert,  the  parent  fowls  being 
selected  for  health  above  everything, 
next  eggs,  then  beauty.  By  this  means 
there  has  been  a  constant  improvement 
in  the  stamina  and  pra6tical  value  as 
well  as  beauty  of  the  strain,  and  a  fine 
business  is  done  in  selling  eggs  and 
fowls  to  outside  breeders. 

The  uniform  rule  of  stock-breeding 
here  is  never  to  breed  from  any  animal, 
of  either  sex,  that  has  been  even  slightly 
sick.  They  claim  in-and-in  breeding  is 
harmless  if  this  rule  is  stri6tly  observed. 

Gracious!  another  long  letter. 
As  ever — 

Felton. 


CHAPTER  XI 


dear  Hillford: 

You  ask  about  edu- 
cation?    Well,   education    is 
original  here  like  everjthing 
else.     Now  with   you  a  child  is  com- 
pelled   to    go    to    school  and   obey  the 
teacher  and  swallow  and  digest  all  set 
before  him,  willy-nilly.    Here  there  are 
a  number  of  teachers  &  schools,  more 
or  less    differing    in    methods,  and   the 
scholar  makes    his    own    choice,  eleds 
his  own  studies,  goes  to  school  or  stays 
at  home,  as  he  pleases.    Teachers  and 
parents  respeafully  advise  him,  but  no- 
body thinks  of    compelling    him.     His 
natural  desire  to  know  &  to  equal  his 
fellows  is  supposed  to  be  enough,  and 


112  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 


the  teacher  who  cannot  make  his  les- 
sons so  attra6tive  that  the  scholar  would 
rather  attend  than  stay  away  is  regarded 
as  a  failure.  Anyway  to  force  a  child, 
or  even  overpersuade  him,  is  regarded 
as  outrage  and  crime. 

In  bad  weather  lessons  are  in  a  school 
room,  but  if  the  weather  is  pleasant 
teachers  &  scholars  are  usually  out-of- 
doors  wandering  about  the  Tribe-land, 
in  the  fields  or  woods.  These  general 
teachers,  in  what  you  might  term  the 
grammar-school  grade  (also  that  below) 
have  to  possess  an  all-around  capacity. 
They  are  born  teachers,  enthusiasts  in 
their  profession,  gifted  with  extraordi- 
nary personal  magnetism  and  powers  of 
conveying  knowledge  in  attra6tive  ways 
and  unforgetable  words. 

Since  your  question  came  I  went  one 
day  with  a  teacher  just  to  study  the 
svstem. 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  113 

We  started  out  just  after  breakfast, 
taking  lunch  in  our  hands  like  picnicers. 
We  went  to  the  woods,  and  on  the  wa}' 
the  teacher  asked  questions  &  answered 
them  at  every  step.  What  was  the  name 
of  this  flower,  and  that  bird,  and  yon- 
der rock?  What  is  this  wood  good 
for?  Who  can  tell  me  what  poet  de- 
scribes a  scene  like  this?  The  questions 
and  answers  flew  back  &  forth  like  a 
weaver's  shuttle,  but  mostl}'  the  pupils 
questioned,  and  the  teacher  could  hardly 
talk  fast  enough  to  answer  the  eager 
young  voices. 

At  last  we  came  to  the  little  lake 
Forrest  had  made  by  damming  a  brook 
in  Vale  Sunrise,  and  here,  in  a  grove, 
the  true  school- work  began.  Maps, 
books,  etc.,  were  pulled  out  of  knap- 
sacks and  the  school  seated  itself  on 
logs,  stones  and  the  ground. 

First  was  a  lesson  in  geographv.  A 


114  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

map  was  hung  on  a  tree  and  for  five 
minutes  by  my  watch  every  scholar 
looked  at  that  map  as  if  his  soul  were 
in  his  eyes.  Then  it  was  reversed  and 
each  pupil  took  his  sketch-book  and 
began  to  draw  the  map  from  memory. 
To  my  astonishment  some  of  these 
young  artists  almost  perfectly  repro- 
duced the  map  which  they  had  that 
morning  seen  for  the  first  time.  The 
pi6lures  were  now  compared  with  the 
map  and  by  the  criticism  of  the  whole 
school  the  best  reproduction  was  de- 
clared winner  and  a  medal  hung  on  the 
neck  of  the  one  who  made  it.  Tomor- 
row, the  teacher  said,  they  would  try 
again,  and  so  on  for  several  days  till  one 
had  made  a  perfe6l  map. 

It  seems  each  study  has  a  medal  & 
there  is  competition  for  it  every  day, 
the  winner  being  allowed  to  wear  it  till 
the  next  day  in  sight  of  all  the  Tribe. 


The  DwELi^ERS  in  Vale  Sunrise  115 

The  next  day  some  one  else  may  win 
it.  At  the  end  of  the  term  the  one 
winning  it  the  most  days  keeps  it  per- 
manently.   It  is  usually  of  carved  wood. 

Now  the  winner  is  called  to  the  tree 
and  asked  to  describe  the  country  he 
has  pi6tured;  its  climate,  soil,  produc- 
tions, inhabitants,  etc.  The  others  listen, 
and  when  he  is  thru,  one  by  one,  ac- 
cording: to  their  number  on  a  roll  call, 
they  rise,  like  men  in  council,  &  praise 
his  accuracy  or  point  out  his  errors,  also 
freely  criticising  each  other.  When  all 
had  done  the  teacher  reviev/ed  the 
whole  criticism. 

Then  came  history.  The  teacher  read 
a  chapter  from  a  book  and  then  the 
pupil  whose  turn  it  was  (they  followed 
the  roll  in  this  study)  rose  and  tried 
to  repeat  from  memory  what  the  teacher 
had  said.  All  the  others  had  been  writ- 
ing rapidly  while  the  teacher  read,  and 


ii6  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

now  I  found  they  had  been  reporting 
the  reading  in  shorthand  for  one  at  a 
time  they  now  produced  their  notes  & 
critised  the  memorizer,  and  each  other, 
and  even  the  teacher,  till  the  lesson  was 
over.  Everything  was  criticised,  style, 
accuracy,  articulation,  grainmar,  the 
moral  bearing  of  the  lesson  itself — 
everything  that  any  critic  might  notice. 
At  the  end  a  vote  was  taken  and  it  was 
decided  that  the  history  memorizer  of 
yesterday  had  surpassed  this  one,  and 
could  keep  the  medal  for  this  day,  too. 
The  teacher  now  wrote  three  senten- 
ces (quotations  from  ancient  philoso- 
phers) rapidly,  on  the  blackboard,  rub- 
bing each  one  out  before  writing  the 
next.  All  now  copied  these  from  mem- 
ory. Then  one  was  called  to  read  his 
version.  Before  he  had  read  many 
words  many  voices  called  out  "wrong!" 
He  turned  to  the  teacher,  who  smiled 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  117 

and  nodded,  and  he  sat  down.  The 
second  one  called  got  the  first  sentence 
right,  but  he  gave  a  wrong  authority. 
The  third  was  downed  on  the  second 
sentence,  and  so  on.  But  three  were 
correct,  and  these  "pulled  off  the  tie" 
by  copying  other  sentences  until  only 
one  remained,  who  won  the   medal. 

Now  there  was  an  hour's  recess,  with 
the  usual  school-child  fun,  and  then 
again  school  reopened. 

Now  a  boy  rose,  and  walking  to  the 
middle,  repeated  with  much  grace  and 
fire,  a  really  spirited  little  poem.  To 
my  surprise  the  teacher  told  me  it  was 
his  own  composition.  The  others  took 
it  down  in  shorthand  and  then  sharp 
criticism  followed.  But  1  was  glad  when 
they  finally  voted  him  the   medal. 

Then  a  boy  wn-ote  a  poem  from  mem- 
ory on  a  blackboard  and  his  memor}-, 
writing,    spelling,  grammar,  etc.,  were 


ii8  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

criticised  by  all.  The  teacher  explained 
to  me  that  those  exercises  were  usually 
in  verse  because  that  was  considered 
better  training  for  the  literary  faculties 
than  prose:  ^'Few  good  prose-writers 
can  write  good  verse,  but  all  good 
verse-writers  ca  \  write  good  prose." 

And  so  it  went  on  all  day. 

The  lessons  proper  began  at  9  a.  m. 
and  ended  at  4  p.  m.,  but  there  were 
generous  intermissions  of  one  hour  each 
— one  for  lunch. 

But  the  teacher  joined  even  in  the 
plays,  and  I  marvelled  at  the  ta6t  with 
which  even  the  sports  were  turned  in 
the  dire6tion  of  knowledge.  The  teacher 
seemed  the  favorite  comrade  &  play- 
fellow and  was  continually  called  from 
one  part  of  the  play-ground  to  the  other 
to  assist,  admire  or  decide.  And  advice, 
instruction  or  gentle  correction  were 
working  in  all  the  time  a  moral  and 
intellectual  influence. 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  119 

The  studies  seemed  all  concrete — the 
pupils  knew  all  the  time  what  they  were 
doing  and  what  they  were  trying  to  get 
at,  and  applied  their  knowledge  dire6tly. 
Thus  almost  all  the  afternoon  was  taken 
in  studying  an  architect's  plans  &  figur- 
ing on  his  estimates.  It  seems  a  new 
&  model  barn  was  being  built  in  Rip- 
pleford  and  the  teacher  had  borrowed 
the  plans  and  the  pupils  had  studied 
these  as  they  did  maps  until  they  had 
drawn  a  corre6t  copy  and  from  this  copy 
they  were  now  figuring  how  many  feet 
of  lumber,  of  what  kinds,  and  how 
many  perch  of  stone,  etc.,  would  be 
needed  to  ere6l  the  stru6ture,  the  proba- 
ble cost,  the  probable  time,  and  all  other 
estimates  made  by  builders.  When  each 
one  had  made  these  estimates  to  his 
own  satisfaction  they  were  all  to  be 
compared  with  those  of  the  architect 
himself.   To  mv  amazement  these  mere 


I20  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

children  knew  vastly  more  about  ma- 
terials, their  strength,  durability,  relative 
cost,  etc.,  than  I  did.  They  knew  how 
to  find  out  how  many  perch  of  stone 
it  took  to  build  a  given  wall,  how  many 
shingles  covered  a  given  side,  how 
man}'  tiles  a  given  roof,  and  how  the 
whole  thing  was  builded. 

When  I  went  over  the  matter  in  my 
mind  that  evening  I  was  astonished  to 
find  out  how  much  I  had  learned  my- 
self, and  how  ashamed  of  my  pra6tical 
ignorance  those  blessed  infants  had 
made  me.  All  day  long  there  had  not 
been  a  dull  moment,  or  any  mere  form- 
ality or  routine.  Everything  had  been 
pra6\ical  and  interesting.  The  pupils 
were  happy,  all  alive  &  sucking  in  in- 
formation at  every  pore.  They  had  con- 
du6led  the  school  themselves  &  taught 
each  other,  so  to  speak,  the  teacher  be- 
ing mainly  a  sort  of  chairman  &  referee. 


The  DVVELL.ERS  in  Vale  Sunrise  121 

The  scholars  even  took  charge  of  each 
other's  behavior  and  the  last  vote  of 
the  da}'  was  to  decide  w^ho  deserved  the 
medal  for  that  day  for  the  most  ideal 
condu6t,  and  all  thus  selected  received 
medals. 

There  had  been  no  scolding,  no  pun- 
ishments, no  set  rules  for  the  sake  of 
discipline.  The  children  were  all  good, 
because  all  at  work,  all  absorbed  soul 
and  bod}'  in  that  work  &  all  subje6ted 
to  the  criticism  of  each  other.  All  day 
long  they  had  criticised  &  praised  each 
other  in  every  possible  way,  but  always 
kindly.  Sometimes  a  good  stroke  had 
elicited  a  round  of  applause.  I  found 
it  was  etiquette  for  the  last  wearer  of 
a  medal  to  surrender  it  gracefully  to 
the  succeeding  winner.  Qiiarreling  was 
looked  upon  as  stupid  and  a  bore. 

I  was  impressed  with  the  cleverness 
of  the  educational   method.     All  those 


122  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

iniiuences  which  in  outside  schools  are 
usually  arrayed  against  the  teacher  were 
here  ta<5tfull3'  turned  to  support  him. 
Books,  which  a6tive  children  are  not 
prone  to,  were  but  little  used.  Laugh- 
ing and  talking  were  freely  permitted. 
All  studies  were  elective,  all  were  con- 
crete, all  were  attractive  4^  interesting. 
The  teacher  was  not  a  ruler,  but  an 
older,  wiser  and  beloved  comrade,  like 
the  chiefs  in  the  Tribe.  There  was  no 
compulsion,  therefore  nothing  to  excite 
rebellion.  I  noticed,  during  the  history 
lesson,  that  one  thoughtful  little  fellow 
took  a  book  and  went  off  out  of  hear- 
ing &  read,  no  one  interfering.  I  asked 
him,  while  we  were  going  home,  why 
he  had  done  this. 

"Because  I  do  not  care  to  hear  about 
those  bad  old  kings  and  wars,"  he  said. 
"Teacher  thinks  I  ought  to  know  about 
them,  but  I  think  my  time  can  be  better 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  123 

spent,  so  I  read  natural  history  during 
that  lesson-time.'' 

I  loooked  down  at  the  resolute,  re- 
fle6^ive  little  eleven-year-old  face  with 
wonder.  Already  deciding  for  itself  the 
path  of  life.  What  a  man  this  might 
make  ! 

The  most  noticeable  feature  was  that 
the  espj'it  de  corps  &  public  opinion, 
so  strong  in  all  schools  and  usually 
against  the  teacher,  was  here  the  main- 
spring of  order  and  education.  The 
scholar  looked  ever  to  his  fellows  for 
criticism,  praise  or  blame,  &  the  award- 
ing of  every  prize.  The  teacher  told 
me  privately  that  he  had  no  right  to  veto 
the  vote  of  the  school,  tho  he  could  re- 
cord his  opinion  also,  &  that  the  school 
was  prompt  to  boycott  a  mean,  jealous 
or  quarrelsome  pupil. 

I  tried  to  recall  all  the  pupils  had 
learned  &  see  how  it  would   help  them 


124  "A  HE  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

in  mature  life.  They  had  learned  to 
speak  in  public,  easily,  gracefully,  cor- 
re6tly,  with  parlimentary  decorum  ;  to 
criticise  keenly  but  kindl}'  everything 
seen  &  heard;  to  remember  accurately 
the  sounds  of  things  heard,  the  shapes 
of  things  seen  &  reproduce  them  from 
memory;  to  understand  maps;  to  draw; 
to  read,  write  and  cipher;  to  report  in 
short  hand,  verbatim;  to  compare  like 
litterateiirs  and  correct  written  exer- 
cises like  proof-readers ;  to  draw  &  read 
plans  and  figure  on  estimates  like  con- 
tra6tors;  and  tinally  to  have  clean  and 
reasonable  ideas  of  their  moral  respon- 
sibilities and  relations  to  each  other. 
Incidentalh'  they  had  gathered  a  won- 
derful store  of  fa6ts  about  all  sorts  of 
things,  so  interestingly  fixed  on  their 
minds  by  all  sorts  of  associations  that 
forgetting  was  almost  impossible. 
Their  criticism  of  the  history  lesson 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  125 

was  a  revelation  to  me.     Each  spoke  as 
he  felt,  criticising  the  lesson  and  other 
speakers,  but    the  moral  criticism  was 
what   astounded    me.     It  was  a  lesson 
in  English  history  from  a  conservative 
source.    But  these  young  radicals  went 
thru  it    like  a  whiff  of  ozone.     Kings, 
they  said,  had  no  rights  as  such,  except 
what  the  people  freely  gave  them;  their 
only  office  was  to  be  good  servants  of 
the  people,  advising  them,  working  for 
them;  that  they  had  no  moral  right  to 
coerce  anybody  not  an  invader  of  oth- 
er's rights;  that  war  was  organized  and 
licensed    murder,  more  shameful    than 
piracy  because  pretending  to  more  vir- 
tue and    glory;  that    no  man  ought   to 
obey   another    against    his    conscience; 
that  no  rulers  or  laws  were  necessary 
that    taxation    was    robbery    because  it 
took  men's  property  without  their  con- 
sent, &  that,  finally  history  was  a  chron- 
icle of  crime   useful  only  as  a  warnino- 


126  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

Just  imagine  children  talking  that  way 
when  we  were  boys  and  worshiped 
Ca?sar  and  Napoleon! 

Lessons  are  every  day,  except  Sun- 
day, but  Saturday  is  usually  given  up 
to  the  study  of  Nature,  usually  out  of 
doors  &  while  rambling,  &  is  regarded 
practically  as  a  holiday.  And  the  pupil, 
remember,  stays  home,  whenever  he 
pleases,  without  reproof.  And  lessons 
are  continuall}'  varied  so  that  almost 
every  day  affords  some  change  &  attrac- 
tion. There  seem  to  be  no  formal  vaca- 
tions, but  a  whole  school  votes  a  holiday 
or  vacation.  Each  school  has  usually 
two  teachers,  who  divide  the  teaching 
time  between  them  to  suit  themselves, 
but  so  that  the  result  is  about  half-time 
work  for  each.  Thus  in  this  school  this 
teacher  had  taught  all  day,  but  next  day 
another  would  take  his  place  for  all 
dav.     Sometimes  the  division  is  at  mid- 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  127 

day  and  some  teach  a  whole  week  and 
rest  one  whole  week. 

It  may  seem,  at  first  glance,  hard  on 
the  pupils,  this  fairly  continuous  study, 
but  it  is  all  so  like  real  life,  so  free, 
unconstrained,  interesting,  fascinating, 
so  arouses  and  satisfies  that  insatiable 
curiosity  all  children  know,  and  play- 
intermissions  are  so  long,  that  they  do 
not  seem  to  feel  it.  Beside  there  is  no 
home  stud}'  required.  And  if  anything 
of  diverting  interest  is  going  on  in 
Tribe-land,  like  the  raising  of  a  house, 
draining  of  a  swamp,  a  special  Council, 
etc.,  the  teacher  takes  them  all  there 
and  makes  the  matter  the  subje6t  of  a 
peripatetic  le6ture. 

The  theory  is  that  children,  if  un- 
forced and  unconstrained,  do  not  crave 
rest,  but  long  constantly  to  be  actively 
amused  &  concretely  instru6ted.  Book- 
study  and  lectures,  the  Tribesmen  say, 


128  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

are  for  grown-ups,  not  these  restless 
little  animals. 

The  indoor  study,  on  dull  days,  is 
mostly  manual  training  in  art  and  me- 
chanics. 

There  are  no  formal  examinations. 

Different  teachers  have  very  different 
and  original  ways,  but  the  spirit  of  all 
is  the  same — to  train  all  the  faculties 
symmetrically  and  for  practical  use  and 
to  keep  the  pupil  happily  interested. 

Later  on  the  youth  goes  to  special 
schools,  where  some  art,  profession  or 
trade  is  theoretically  and  practically 
taught,  or  languages,  or  literature. 

And  beside  these  there  are  afternoon 
and  evening  classes  for  older  people,  in 
all  sorts  of  elementary  &  higher  studies. 
Tribeland  is  a  sort  of  universit}'.  No- 
body's education  is  supposed  to  be  com- 
plete, and  nobody  is  ashamed  to  ac- 
knowledge ignorance  or  be  a  student. 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  129 

While  walking  home  from  school 
that  da}^  one  interesting  episode  oc- 
curred of  which  I  must  tell  you.  Just 
as  we  got  into  the  upland  there  was 
a  sound  of  running  feet  and  Forrest 
Westwood  came  bounding  by,  followed 
by  that  little  band  of  his  disciples 
whom  Tribemen  call  ''The  Forresters."* 
Bronzed,  bearded,  bare-headed,  sandal- 
footed,  stalwart  3'Oung  fellows,  nude 
except  for  loin  cloths,  carrying  books, 
glasses,  herbariums,  etc.,  (for  they  had 
been  out  studying  ornithology  &  bot- 
any), they  went  by  at  a  long,  swinging 
trot,  laughing  and  jesting.  Some  wore 
wreaths,  and  some  feathers  in  their  hair 
like  Forrest.  I  understood  why  they 
called  him  ''The  Runner"  as  he  went 
laughing  ahead,  and  the  whole  scene 
was  like  a  classic  pi6ture.  There  were 
several  young  women  among  them,  too, 
clad  in  bloomers  &  low-necked  sleeve- 
less jerseys. 


130  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

The  children  cheered  as  they  bounded 
by,  and    some    young    enthusiasts    ran 
with  them  a  ways.    There  will  be  more 
"Forresters"  by  and  by,  I  thought. 
So  long! 

Felton. 


CHAPTER  XI r 


1 

It 

H 

iY  dear  friend,   Hill  ford: 

I  have  just  learned 
something  that  it  surprises  me 
I  never  knew  before  —  that 
this  is  not  the  only  Society  of  Simpli- 
cists,  not  the  only  Tribe  of  Natural  Men. 
There  are,  it  seems,  three  more,  all  off- 
shoots of  this. 

One  man  who  came  here  had  been 
reared  a  farmer  and  owned  by  inher- 
itance a  large  tra6t  of  land  in  New 
England.  He  could  not  sell  it — aban- 
doned farms  were  all  about  it — and 
after  staying  here  a  while,  absorbing 
the  spirit  of  the  place,  he  returned  home 
and  started  another  Tribe.  Partly  he 
went  back  because  his  wife  pined  for 


132  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

her  old  home.  He  had  different  ideals, 
too,  from  the  founders  of  this  colony, 
and  naturally  his  venture  took  another 
form.  He  bought  up  adjoining  farms, 
got  men  to  join  him,  and  now  there  is 
quite  a  prosperous  settlement.  The  ideal 
is  to  revive,  as  far  as  may  be,  the  old- 
fashioned  American  farm  life.  Most  of 
them  are  farmers,  but  they  have  a  grist 
&  saw  mill,  tannery,  shoe-makers,  car- 
penters, blacksmith,  wagon-maker,  bas- 
ket-maker, tailor,  and  looms  for  making 
homespun  and  for  rag-carpets  ;  also  a 
co-operative  laundry  &  Turkish  bath. 
They  raise  their  food,  make  their  own 
flour,  butcher  their  own  meat,  spin  & 
weave  their  own  wool  and  flax,  make 
their  own  shoes,  dress  in  homespun  and 
leather  and  knitted  stuff,  and  in  every 
way  possible  supply  their  own  wants 
and  copy  "the  good  old  ways."  A  great 
deal  of  their  work  is  done  on  the  prin- 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  133 

ciple  of  ^^bees"— husking-bees,  log-rol- 
lings, etc. 

They  have  a  trulj-^old  meeting  house" 
which  they  bought,  but  no  salaried  min- 
ister. Every  Sunday  a  sort  of  union- 
meeting  is  held.  Each  Sunday  some 
family  (chosen  in  rotation)  has  charge 
of  the  services,  and  a  member  of  the 
family,  or  some  deputy  chosen  by  it, 
speaks  or  reads,  setting  the  program  for 
the  day  with  no  reference  to  any  gen- 
eral plan,  teaching  anything  he  pleases 
from  Roman  Catholicism    to  Atheism. 

They  have  chosen  a  lot  of  hymns, 
songs  and  musical  pieces  that  all  like, 
and  these  they  confine  themselves  to, 
never  using  anything  that  anyone  ob- 
je6ts  to. 

There  are  no  audible  prayers,  but 
silent  periods,  in  which  those  pray  who 
wish  to  and  those  think  quietly  who  do 
not  pray.  And  there  are  no  criticisms 
or  debates. 


134  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

But  they  have  a  free  "Lyceum," 
wherein  every  question  can  be  discussed. 

Houses  are  built  on  old-fashioned 
lines,  &  furnished  with  rag-carpets,  rush- 
bottomed  chairs,  "grandfather  clocks'' 
and  all  that. 

All  this  represents  their  ideal  of 
simplicity. 

They  seem  happy  and  well-to-do. 


Another  man  who  came  here  had 
been  a  Catholic  priest,  then  a  Protest- 
ant minister,  then  got  too  liberal  even 
for  that  and  joined  the  Tribe. 

But  he  fell  heir  to  large  estates,  and 
havino-  an  ideal  of  his  own  went  back 
to  his  land,  in  the  mountains  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  started  another  Society  of 
Simpli cists  there.  ^The}'  call  them- 
selves "The  Brothers  of  Good  Work." 

They  all  live  together  in  a  great  stone 
building,  with  wings  and  annexes,  and. 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  135 

tho  not  monastic,  a  semi-ecclesiastical 
air  pervades  everything.  They  dress 
pretty  much  alike,  in  a  simple  working 
garb,  &  make  a  religion  of  doing  good 
and  beautiful  work.  They  eat  at  a  com- 
mon table  and  are  stridtly  communists 
in  all  things.  Their  sleeping  rooms  are 
mere  cells,  of  exceeding  cleanness  and 
simplicity,  but  their  public  rooms  are 
lavish  with  art  and  beauty.  They  say 
their  onl}'  law  is  the  Golden  Rule. 
They  are  perfe6tly  free,  but  do  not  en- 
courage variation,  and  invite  only  those 
to  join  them  who  agree  with  their  ideal. 

They  have  a  great  farm,  which  they 
cultivate  in  a  model  way,  but  most  of 
them  are  artists  on  medieval  lines  and 
print  &  illumine  books  (or  write  them 
entirely  like  ancient  monks)  paint,  carve, 
make  furniture,  and  so  on. 

They  seem  to  have  a  common  and 
rather  mystical  religious  faith,  &  much 
to   do  with  spirits. 


136  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

They  are  not  self-sufficient,  but  de- 
pend upon  the  sale  of  their  produ6ts  to 
the  outside  world  for  support. 

They  are  largely  French,  Germans,  or 
other  foreigners,  and  were  almost  all  of 
them  brought  up  as  Roman  Catholics. 


A  third  Tribe  lives  in  a  great  city. 
Its  founder  is  a  business  man  and  prac- 
tical scientist,  and  pervaded  with  all 
modern   ideas  of  mechanical    progress. 

''You  people,"  he  said  of  the  other 
Tribes,  "are  all  Mooking  backward.' 
You  are  trying  to  put  new  wine  in  old 
bottles.  This  trying  to  be  mere  savages, 
monks,  medievalists,  ruralists  and  the 
rest  is  nonsense.  Now  m}'  motto  is: 
'To  simplicity  thru  com.plexity.'  That 
is  the  course  of  evolution,  first  increas- 
ing complexity,  then  such  a  perfection 
of  co-a6tion  in  all  the  associated  parts 
that    simplicity  is    again   attained,  only 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  137 

on  a  hiw-her  staii^e  than  ever  before. 
Don't  go  back  to  old  hand-labor  ways 
but  put  yourself  in  the  forefront  of 
progress." 

So  he  bought  a  block  in  the  city  and 
put  up  a  big  department  store,  bought 
another  adjoining  block  and  turned  it 
into  an  immense  hotel,  bought  land  in 
the  suburbs  &  erected  factories.  The 
best  modern  machinery  was  used  and 
modern  business  methods  plus  social- 
ism. Every  detail  was  systematized  & 
worked  like  a  well-oiled  machine.  Now 
he  searched  far  &  wide,  and  selecting 
good  men  who  were  in  sympathy  with 
free-socialism,  drew  them  to  him,  and 
as  soon  as  he  had  proved  them  took 
them  into  association  with  him.  Then 
employees  were  tested  and  admitted  in 
the  same  way  and  finally  the  whole 
business  was  run  by  them.  Thus  the 
Society  was  organized.    In  its  internal 


138  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

polity  it  is  much  like  the  other  Tribes 
with  such  differences  only  as  environ- 
ment &  business  necessities  made  com- 
pulsory. All  share  alike  in  expenses 
and  profits  &  hours  of  work.  Work  is 
on  the  basis  of  six  hours  out  of  twenty- 
four  for  each  individual,  and  all  live 
at  the  hotel,  which  has  all  modern 
luxuries  and  conveniencies,  including 
laundry,  Turkish  bath-rooms,  a  resident 
ph}'sician,  dentist,  etc.  All  goods  are 
sold  from  the  store  at  prices  as  low  as 
can  be  figured,  to  properly  maintain  and 
extend  the  business  and  ensure  against 
business  crises,  consequently  the  store 
is  popular  and  prosperous. 

Now  all  this  is  wonderfully  interest- 
ing to  me.  It  shows  how  flexible  this 
new  idea  is,  how  adapted  to  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men.  Here  are  four 
groups,  wonderfully  different  in  their 
ideals  and  manner  of  life  and  the  sort 


The  Dwellers  ln  Vale  Sunrise  139 


of  people  they  attract,  yet  all  agreeing 
on  the  same  essentials  of  simplicity, 
brotherhood  &  absolute  personal  liberty. 
Do  you  wonder  where  the  simplicity  is 
in  the  city  group?  It  is  here:  Each 
man  has  his  place  in  the  business,  like  a 
cog  in  a  machine,  does  his  work  so  many 
hours,  and  then  is  free  to  enjoy  himself 
without  a  care  in  the  world.  Of  course 
the  superintendents  (selected  b}-  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Society  &  corresponding 
to  our  chiefs)  have  more  care  and  re- 
sponsibility than  the  ordinary  workers, 
but  they  also  have  the  natin-al  reward 
for  this  in  that  general  love,  honor,  grat- 
itude &  admiration  which  alwavs  troes 
to  the  men  of  superior  abilities  and  ser- 
vices if  these  services  are  disinterested 
and  not  forced  upon  the  unwilling. 
Always  lovingly — 

Felton. 


CHAPTER  XI  11 


Y  dear  Hillford: 

There  is  one  most 
interesting  personality  here 
and  I  have  not  told  3011  of 
him  before  because  I  have  been  care- 
fiilh"  studying  him  up  and  wanted  to 
really  understand  him  before  I  wrote. 
He  is  a  Simplicist  indeed  &  as  much  be- 
yond Westwood  in  this  regard  as  West- 
wood  is  beyond  the  ordinary  Tribes- 
man. He  is  a  German,  &  an  enthusiast 
as  many  Germans  are,  and  got  into  dire 
trouble  trying  to  live  his  theories  in  the 
outer  world.  So  he  came  here,  not  so 
much  because  of  accord  with  our  ideas 
as  because  here  he  could  do  as  he  liked. 
He  is  shv  and  reserved,  but  commun- 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  141 

icative  enough  when  you  get  his  con- 
fidence, and  at  last  I  have  got  to  know 
him  well. 

His  idea  is  utter  simplicity  and  un- 
adulterated human  nature.  He  lives  in 
the  deepest  vv'oods  and  is  not  often  seen. 
He  is  consistently  vegetarian  from  an 
ethical  concept  and  will  not  even  eat 
an  Qgg  because  there  is  life  in  it,  nor 
drink  milk  because  that  defrauds  some 
animal  babe.  He  avoids  drinking  water, 
too,  for  fear  of  unwittingly  taking  life 
and  is  always  troubled  in  his  conscience 
because  he  thinks  that  even  the  roots, 
fruits,  vegetables  he  eats  are  alive  and 
likely  suffer  pain  &  shrink  from  death. 
"I  cannot  help  killing  and  invading,  do 
what  I  will!''  he  cried  to  me  once  in 
genuine  distress. 

He  is  a  Spiritualist  and  thinks  him- 
self in  constant  communication  with  the 
departed.     He  wears  no  clothes  at  all 


142  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

in  warm  weather  when  at  home  in  his 
woods,  and  only  the  merest  tigleaf  when 
in  society.  He  wears  more  or  less  in 
winter,  but  no  leather,  skins  or  ordinary 
cloth,  and  makes  for  himself  a  sort  of 
tappa  or  barkcloth  to  wear  when  it  is 
very  cold.  Also  he  weaves  a  strange  ma- 
terial from  soft  inner  bark  &  dried  moss 
which  is  quite  durable  and  resistive  of 
cold.  But  mostly  he  goes  naked.  His 
body  is  bronzed  and  hairy  and  rugged 
as  a  tree-trunk,  his  beard  reaches  to  his 
waist  and  his  hair  to  his  knees.  He 
combs  hair  and  beard  every  day  care- 
fully with  his  fingers,  tugging  &  pulling 
at  it  in  the  process,  and  he  claims  that 
hair  thus  pulled  and  tugged  and  stroked 
by  magnetic  hands  will  never  turn  gray, 
thin  or  fall  out.  He  generally  keeps 
both  braided  in  the  dav  time,  but  at 
night  unbraids  all,  if  the  air  is  cool,  and 
uses  his  locks  as  a  natural  wrapper  or 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  143 

blanket.   He  says  animals  have  the  same 
rights  as  men   and    so  he  never  tames 
any,    for    tame    animals,   he    says,  are 
slaves.     No,  I  am  not  quite  right  here, 
for  he  has  a  host  of  tame  wild  animals, 
if  I  may  so  call  them.     That  is,  as  he 
never  kills  even  a  mosquito  or  a  tick, 
the  animals  lose  all  fear  of  him  and  he 
is  on  the  most  intimate,  even  speaking 
terms  with  them.  When  birds,  squirrels, 
etc.,  are  babes  in  the  nest  he  vies  with 
the  mother  in  bringing  them  food,  and 
they  grow  up  with  the  feeling  that  he 
is  a  foster-parent.     That  is  one  way  he 
has    of    taming    them,  but    he    always 
moves  gently  among  them,  and  knows 
how  to  imitate  their  notes  and  cries  and 
so  they  come  to  know  and  admit  him 
as  one  of  themselves.     It  is  wonderful 
how  familiar    he  is  with  them.     Birds 
flutter  down  on   him  as  a  perch,  squir- 
rels run  down  the  trees  at  his  approach, 


144  ^^'he  Dwellers  in  Vale  wSunrise 

rabbits  are  as  tame  as  house-cats  to  his 
touch.  He  handles  snakes,  toads,  lizards; 
handles  even  the  wild  skunk  without 
exciting  its  fetor  ;  takes  even  the  fish  out 
of  water  with  his  hands,  talks  to  them 
and  replaces  them  unhurt  &  apparently 
little  alarmed.  His  vocabulary  of  grunts, 
squeaks,  whistles,  barks,  etc.,  seems  in- 
finite to  me,  but  he  says  each  one  is  a 
word  in  animal  language,  &  has  a  m.ean- 
ing,  and  he  talks  to  the  beasts  with  these. 
He  makes  a  garden  in  the  forest  and 
raises  fruit,  grain  &  vegetables.  These, 
with  wild  roots,  nuts,  berries,  buds,  bark, 
leaves,  herbs,  etc.,  form  his  food.  He 
is  strong  and  hardy,  tho  nearly  sixty, 
with  an  eye  like  an  eagle  for  strength. 
He  eats  raw  food  only. 

He  can  make  a  fire  by  rubbing  sticks, 
like  a  primitive  savage,  but  seldom  in- 
dulges in  one  even  in  the  dead  of  winter. 

He  lives  in  a  little  cave  in  the  south 


The  Dwellers  ln  Vale  Sunrise  145 

side  of  a  cliff  and  has  a  great,  deep  bed 
there  of  wild  grass,  pine-needles,  leaves, 
etc.  Here  he  burrows,  covering  him- 
self with  bark-robes,  and  on  cold  nights 
some  of  his  animal  friends  are  apt  to 
share  his  couch  with  him.  lie  lives 
mostly  on  nuts  in  the  winter,  basks  in 
the  sun  on  warm  days,  and  sleeps  like 
a  woodchuck  on  cold,  dark  ones.  His 
capacity  for  sleep  and  fasting  remind 
me  of  a  hibernating  animal.  He  tells 
me  he  eats  nothing  for  a  week,  some- 
times, sleeping  nearly  all  the  time.  Tho 
strange,  fanatical  &  eccentric  he  seems 
perfe6fly  sane.  ^]  There  is  a  quarry  of 
excellent  slates  near  his  cave  &  he  gets 
these  and  writes  on  them  with  a  flint 
and  stores  his  stone  folios  in  another, 
larger  cave.  Almost  all  that  he  writes 
is  about  nature,  especially  his  observa- 
tions on  the  habits,  language  &  thoughts 
of  animals,  and  as  his  opportunities  for 


146  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

such  knowledge  probably  excel  those  of 
any  man  who  has  ever  lived  his  librar}^, 
someday,  will  have  a  priceless  value. 
Remember  that  he  lives  among  the  ani- 
mals as  one  of  them,  has  their  confi- 
dence and  talks  their  language.  It  is 
wonderful  to  see  him  challenore  a  wild 
animal  with  some  strange  note  or  mo- 
tion and  to  see  it  respond  and  answer 
with  evident  pleasure  and  intelligence; 
and  just  as  wonderful  to  see  ticks,  mo- 
squitos,  etc.,  feasting  undisturbed  on  his 
naked  hide. 

Forrest  Westwood  would  like  to  be 
very  friendly  with  him,  but  he  feels  very 
hard  toward  Forrest  because  he  is  a 
hunter  &  not  vegetarian,  and  is  rather 
cold  to  him  in  consequence.  All  se6ta- 
rians  and  enthusiasts  find  it  hardest  to 
forgive  those  nearest  to  them  in  faith, 
I  have  noticed,  if  they  differ  at  all.  Karl 
has  learned  the  libert}^  that  lets  alone, 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  147 

but  not  the  sympathy  that  appreciates 
the  merit  of  the  other  view.  But  he 
likes  me  because  I  am  not  a  hunter  and 
eat  no  tiesh  &  he  hopes  to  fully  convert 
me.  But  he  saw  Planer  kill  a  chicken 
once  and  has  his  opinion  of  her. 

He  has  made  him  a  flint  axe  and  a 
flint  knife  and  these  are  his  only  tools, 
except  wooden  tappa- mallets,  sticks, 
thorns,  and  the  bags  and  baskets  he 
weaves  to  carry  his  provision. 

I    saw  him   yesterday  in  the  woods, 
asleep  in  the  sun,  curled  up  at  the  foot 
of  a  tree,  naked  as  a  snake. 
Heartily  yours, 

Felton. 


CHAPTER 


\ 


XI  v\ 

I 


V 


Y  dear  Hillford : 

I  have  just  returned 
from  the  Council  House, 
where  I  have  Hstened  to  one 
of  the  most  interesting^  debates  I  ever 
heard.  It  w^as  a  tripartite  discussion  or 
manifesto  of  ideals  by  Karl  Schaefer, 
Forrest  Westwood  and  James  Harvard. 
Harvard  is  the  founder  of  the  depart- 
ment-store group  in  the  city,  of  which 
I  wrote  you. 

Old  Karl  was  the  first  speaker.  Out 
of  consideration  for  his  audience  he 
wore  a  loin-cloth  of  woven  bark.  His 
hair  and  beard  were  unbraided  and  his 
wild  eyes  glared  under  his  shaggy  brows. 
Bronzed,  wrinkled,  hairy,  calloused,  with 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  149 

knotted  muscles,  big  bones  and  sharp 
white  teeth,  a  more  ideal  ''Wild  Man  of 
the  Woods"  could  not  have  been  im- 
agined. There  were  strange  wild  notes 
&  cadences  in  his  tones,  derived  proba- 
bly from  his  much  use  of  animal  sounds, 
indescribable.  Leaving  out  the  German 
accent,  he  spoke  somewhat  like  this: 

"My  good  friends,  I  am  of  Germany, 
you  know,  and  cannot  always  the  best 
English  speak.  But  you  will  be  good 
and  consider.    I  will  not  be  long. 

You  think  I  am  a  beast,  but  it  is  not 
so — I  am  a  mayi ! — and  my  way  I  think 
the  best.     I  want  you  to  know  it. 

You  are  simple,  but  not  simple 
enough.  I  am  the  true  Simple!  I  do 
not  wear  the  clothes.  God  gave  me  this 
skin,  it  is  enough,  1  ought  to  be  content. 
If  I  take  what  God  gives  me  I  shall  be 
better  than  if  I  seek  many  inventions. 

I  take  not    life.     Consider!  —  life    is 


150  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

sacred.  You  understand  that  with  men 
but  you  think  you  may  kill  these  weaker 
ones.  For  shame!  They  are  brothers. 
You  have  no  more  right  to  kill  them 
and  wear  their  skins  than  you  have  to 
kill  me,  eat  me  and  wear  my  skin.  All 
animals  have  equal  rights  to  life  and 
liberty.  I  would  not  kill  even  that  thier- 
chen^  the  what  you  call  it? — a  louse. 
Let  him  eat  me  if  he  knows  no  better. 
I  have  enough  for  both.  I  love  the 
animals.  They  are  my  good  friends. 
We  together  talk  and  understand. 

My  good  friend,  Forrest,  you  call 
'The  Natural  Man,'  but  he  does  not  de- 
serve the  title.  I  am  the  true  'Natural 
Man.'  I  am  the  true  'Simple.'  You 
will  be  full  of  disease  &  crime-wishes 
unless  you  do  as  I  do." 

Forrest  spoke  next. 

"Comrades:  We  all  love  our  German 
friend  and  his  beautiful,  natural  life  is 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  151 

a  joy  to  me.  By  going  down  to  the 
animals  and  being  one  of  them  he  is 
acquiring  and  garnering  for  mankind 
priceless  knowledge.  It  is  a  great  les- 
son on  the  value  of  permitting  and  en- 
couraging every  man  to  live  his  own 
life  in  his  own  way — on  its  public  value 
I  mean.  But  his  life  is  an  extreme,  and 
to  apply  it  to  all  of  us  would  not  be 
well.  He  should  be  glad  in  our  differ- 
ence as  we  are  in  his.  He  should  not 
want  the  squirrel  to  be  like  the  toad, 
nor  the  wildcat  like  the  badger. 

He  claims  superior  naturalness,  but 
to  be  natural  does  not  necessarily  mean 
to  live  like  a  beast  with  scant  brain  & 
no  fingers.  Our  friend  does  not  consider 
evolution.  All  animals  evolve,  it  is  nat- 
ural to  evolve,  and  as  they  evolve  they 
do  more  and  more  things  in  a  more  and 
more  artful  and  intricate  way,  using  nat- 
ural materials  in  combination  &  in  new 


152  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

forms  to  further  their  desires.  The  use 
of  tools  &  materials  goes  with  the  evo- 
lution of  the  brain,  increasing  with  its 
growth.  Therefore  much  of  what  we 
call  ^artificial'  in  man's  life  is  really  most 
natural.  When  I  called  myself  a  natural 
man,  I  did  not  mean  one  who  used  no 
tools,  or  art,  or  inventions,  for  these  are 
all  natural  and  found  to  some  extent 
among  even  the  beasts,  but  one  who 
had  determined  to  yield  to  his  own  law 
of  growth,  to  follow  and  live  out  only 
his  own  ideals,  no  matter  how  whim- 
sical, feeling  sure  that  in  this  way  the 
truest  life  &  wisdom  would  evolve.  All 
about  me  I  find  the  world  full  of  peo- 
ple who  were  trying  to  suppress  their 
evolution,  or  twist  it,  or  reshape  it,  so 
as  to  fit  some  ancient,  or  conventional 
or  other-person's  ideal.  They  religiously 
would  not  do  what  the  public  consen- 
sus called  'strange,  peculiar,  eccentric, 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  153 

improper,  odd,  crazy,'  or  any  one  oi  a 
hundred  such  names.  To  smother  self 
and  conform  was  the  unwritten  hiw. 

But  to  live  my  own  life  was  what  I 
did,  and  this  I  called  "natural'  because 
all  beasts  &  birds  &  flowers  &  trees  and 
primitive  men  and  winds  and  streams 
do  that  way.  They  yield  themselves  to 
the  great  world  currents  and  their  own 
innate  laws  and  are  justified.  Only  such 
lives  are  beautiful,  satisfying,  fair  to 
consider,  and  fit  musically  into  the  S3'm- 
phony  of  the  universal  rhythms. 

Karl  lives  his  animal  life  from  a  sense 
of  duty,  but  I  am  a  savage  'just  for  fun,' 
just  for  health  and  pleasure.  It  seems 
to  me  more  sweet,  wholesome  &  artistic 
than  the  life  most  men  lead,  and  so  I 
live  it.  I  prefer  hand  work  and  em- 
phasize it,  because  I  am  built  that  way, 
but  I  do  not  condemn  the  machine  in 
its  place.     I  am  mostly  an  artist  in  feel- 


154  "l^HE  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

ing,  and  my  desire  has  been  to  conserve 
all  the  gentle  and  beautiful,  idyllic  as- 
pects of  savage  life  while  losing  nothing 
reallv  worth  while  in  the  life  of  the  arti- 
licial  man  of  today.  I  wanted  to  exclude 
both  conventionality  &  crudity  &  attain 
the  truly  poetic  mean.  I  wanted  savage 
health,  animal  spirits,  tree-like  truth  of 
growth,  but  also  to  possess  the  acquired 
joy  of  the  artist;  the  vi6lories  of  the 
thinker,  the  writer;  to  know  something 
of  the  worker's  bliss  in  his  work.  This 
life  I  called  'Simplicity.'  I  think  we  have 
no  better  word  for  it.  But  animal  sim- 
plicity or  consistent  simplicity  I  never 
strove  for.  I  don't  think  much  of  con- 
sistency. It  is  the  enem}'  of  progress. 
Consistency  might  require  me  to  be  un- 
natural, for  it  is  natural  to  me  to  love 
to  create  and  enjoy  creation  after  the 
artist's  impulse.  M}'  gentle  friend  here 
is  not  natural  or  consistent  either,  judged 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  155 

by  his  own  standards.  It  is  not  con- 
sistent for  him  to  weave  baskets,  sacks, 
garments  ['Birds  weave!'  interrupted 
Karl],  not  consistent  for  him  to  wear 
any  garments  whatever,  not  consistent 
for  him  to  use  an  artificial  &  complex 
language,  or  to  speak  any  language  but 
his  own,  not  consistent  for  him  to  write, 
not  natural  —  but  I  spare  him.  He  is 
prett}'  near  consistency  I  allow  &  much 
more  simple  than  I  would  care  to  be 
except  as  an  occasional  luxury. 

It  is  the  artistic,  idyllic  side  of  the 
simple  and  savage  life  that  appeals  to 
me  and  I  would  not  cheat  myself  of  an 
artistic  joy  because  it  was  complex,  nor 
any  other  joy  I  felt  I  needed.  M}'  mes- 
sag^e  to  those  who  look  to  me  as  teacher 
is  simply  to  live  your  own  life  accord- 
ing to  its  strongest  impulse.  Comrade 
Karl  does  this  &  so  does  Comrade  James 
Harvard  and  both  therefore  seem  to  me 


156  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

to  lead  the  natural  life,  and  not  a  re- 
pressed or  perverted  one,  different  as 
each  is  from  the  other.  The  natural  life 
is  the  expressed  life,  the  artificial  life 
is  the  repressed  life.  Our  Comrade  Karl 
wants  to  live  his  own  life,  but  he  is  not 
quite  satisfied  because  we  live  ours  dif- 
ferently. A  little  of  the  old  spirit  which 
demands  conformity  under  pain  of  in- 
harmony  clings  to  him  yet.  lie  is  spe- 
cially hurt  because  we  enslave,  kill,  skin 
and  eat  the  lower  animals.  I  understand 
his  feeling  and  have  respe6t  and  sym- 
pathy for  it,  but  Nature  seems  to  be 
against  it.  He  will  not  kill  even  in  self- 
defense  and  here  he  is  inconsistent  & 
unnatural.  All  animals  resist  if  strong 
enough,  even  rabbits.  A  monkey  will 
kill  the  vermin  on  his  bod}'  &  eat  them 
too.  A  very  little  study  of  nature  will 
show  that  there  are  very  few  if  any  ani- 
mals consistently  vegetarian  or  consist- 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  157 

ently  carnivorous.     The  mixed  diet  in 
greater  or  less  degree  is  almost  univer- 
sal.    And  as  animals  rise  in  the  scale  of 
evolution  they  are  on  one  stage  carniv- 
orous and  on  another  vegetarion  as  op- 
portunity or  necessity  leads.  Practically 
all  aggress,  and  all  defend.     Therefore 
in  his  non-resistence  and  ethical  vege- 
tarianism Karl  is   unnatural    from    the 
viewpoint  of  the  animal.     He  curiously 
vaults  here  from  one  end  of  the  scale 
of  human  evolution  to  the  other.   Peace 
and  the  bloodless  diet  belong  to  the  far 
future  of  the  human  race.    At  this  time 
Nature  is  against  both.     Her  plans  just 
now  require  universal  conflict    and  the 
feeding  of  life  on  life.    A  violent  death 
is  the  natural  death  of  the  lower  ani- 
mal &  he  recks  not  about  being  eaten 
alive.    A  careful  study  has  never  shown 
me  any  superiority  in  health,  character, 
etc.,  of  one  habit  of  diet  over  another. 


158  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

The  carnivorous  dog  is  as  intelligent, 
brave,  noble,  gentle,  swift  &  enduring 
as  the  herbivorous  horse ;  the  Cape  buf- 
falo, the  rhinoceros,  the  baboon,  are  as 
bad-tempered  &  ferocious  as  lions  and 
tigers,  and  with  less  reaspn,  for  they 
attack  unprovoked  and  unspurred  by 
hunger,  the  eagle  is  as  constant  in  love 
as  the  dove,  the  vulture  is  less  belliger- 
ent than  the  cock,  and  the  vegetarian 
hornet  is,  for  his  size,  as  venomous  as 
the  carnivorous  <  snake.  The  same  is 
true  of  men.  The  effects  of  diet  on 
character  are  fanciful.  The  carnivor- 
ous Eskimos  are  more  kindly,  honest, 
gentle  &  every  way  virtuous  than  the 
vegetarian  Malays  &  a  potato-fed  Irish- 
man loves  fight  better  than  a  pemmican- 
fed  Indian.  The  wheat-fed  Roman  sol- 
dier wasted  the  world.  It  is  the  social 
standard  &  ideal  that  mostly  determines 
character,  &  the  perfection  of  the  diges- 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  159 

tive  apparatus  that  mostly  determines 
nutrition  no  matter  what  j'ou  eat. 
Whether  you  live  on  beef  or  bananas 
or  codfish  you  are  all  right  if  you  have 
the  digestive  tools  to  extract  all  the  vir- 
tues and  reject  all  the  poisons  &  rubbish. 
Bad  digestion  means  bad  morals  &  bad 
blood  no  matter  w^hat  you  eat. 

When  we  deal  with  the  animals  we 
deal  with  them  on  their  own  plane  which 
is  that  of  "Might  is  Right,"  simply  be- 
cause   they   can    understand    no    other. 
We  cannot  cooperate  with  them  simply 
because,  as  a  rule,  no    treaties  can  be 
made  with  them  which  they  can  under- 
stand or  will  keep.     If  man  ceased  to 
kill  or  injure  animals  they  would  soon 
lose  all  fear  or  respe6t  for  him.  Vermin 
would  swarm  on  his  body  and    in  his 
homes.    Carnivores  would  devour  him 
as  they  now  do  deer.    The  tribes  of  the 
air,  of  the  forest  and  the  prairie  would 


i6o  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

crawl  thru,  jump  over,  break  down  his 
fences,  gnaw  his  trees,  pillage  his  fruit, 
run  off  with  his  nuts,  swarm  on  his 
grain,  feast  on  his  honey.  Agriculture 
would  be  impossible.  Even  if  we  could 
make  fences  capable  of  effectually  ex- 
cluding the  animals,  that  would  not  be 
brotherly,  and  if  carried  out  thurol}' 
would  fence  them  off  the  earth  and  ex- 
terminate them.  If  no  animal  preyed 
on  another  and  all  were  vegetarian, 
vegetation  would  be  destroyed  as  by 
locusts  and  all  soon  perish  of  starvation. 
The  universal  war  in  Nature  is  a  check 
which  permits  life  to  go  on  in  various 
forms.  As  man  grows  numerous  he 
kills  the  dangerous  beasts  and  so  re- 
moves the  checks  on  the  increase  of 
the  vegetarian  ones.  Now  if  he  did 
not  interfere  with  these  they  would  mul- 
tiply &  devour  every  plant  till  he  and 
they  alike  miserably  perished.     Reason- 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  i6i 

ably  enough  he  takes  the  place  of  the 
carnivores,  he  extirpates,  kills  and  eats 
the  vegetarians  and  so  maintains  the 
natural  balance. 

Did  he  not  enslave,  fleece,  milk  and 
eat  many  of  these  gentler  animals  he 
would  have  no  alternative,  for  the  rea- 
sons I  have  given,  but  to  exterminate 
them  as  pests.  Suppose  man  in  the 
British  Isles,  for  instance,  was  purely 
a  plant-eater  and  used  nothing  animal 
in  his  arts  or  work?  Todav  in  those 
isles  would  not  be  left  a  single  cow, 
horse,  sheep,  goat,  ass,  deer  or  rabbit 
alive,  or  if  those  remained  men  would 
be  few  and  struggliug,  living  on  the 
nuts  and  herbs  left  by  the  beasts. 
There  is  no  alternative,  war  in  Nature 
in  some  form  must  go  on  and  life  be 
limited  by  life. 

Man  can  make  peace  with  man  and 
cooperate  with    him  to  mutual   ad  van- 


i62  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

tage,  and  should  do  so,  but  that  is  about 
the  limit,  and  even  that  only  beginning 
to  be  possible. 

For  the  rest,  man's  place  in  Nature 
is  that  of  conqueror  and  master  w,ith 
despotic  powers.  Only  for  his  own  sake 
he  should  not  give  unnecessary  pain  nor 
delight  in  it.  I  love  the  animals;  I  do 
do  not  love  to  give  them  pain,  I  would 
like  to  cooperate  with  them  as  with  you. 
T  believe  that  life  is  one  and  all  animals 
my  brothers,  but  plants  are  my  broth- 
ers, too,  and  want  to  live  and  I  think 
they  feel.  But  Nature  says  that  not  till 
man  comes  can  peace  be,  and  that 
for  man  alone;  and  that  plants  and 
animals  must  live  on  each  other,  and 
that  is  enough  for  me.  So  far  as  I  find 
it  necessarv  to  kill  I  will  'do  it  without 
regret  and  with  what  pleasure  I  may, 
but  with  a  swift,  clean  stroke,  giving  as 
little    pain  as  may  be.     But    I   do    not 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  163 

thereby  lose  my  sense  of  brotherhood. 
If  I  want  the  body  of  my  brother  the 
squirrel  I  go  and  take  it  as  he  would 
the  body  of  his  brother  the  grub  or 
the  nesting  bird.  When  I  take  his  body 
I  think  I  take  only  his  shell.  I  think 
his  soul  goes  marching  on,  and  next 
time  embodied  will  be  a  little  further 
on — a  little  higher  in  the  scale.  He  must 
die  to  make  this  progressive  change  & 
I  help  him  on  by  killing  him.  And 
even  pain  teaches  and  advances  him. 

On  the  lower  &  animal  stage  man's 
law  also  is  that  of  "Might  is  Right," 
he  even  hunts  and  preys  on  man,  en- 
slaves, perhaps  even  literally  devours 
him,  but  always,  in  Nature,  the  tendency 
within  the  species  is  stronger  to  peace 
&  cooperation  than  to  war  and  all  man's 
evolution  is  naturally  in  this  linej — only 
as  he  works  with  man  &  for  man  does 
he  attain  the  best  for  himself.     He  can- 


164  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

not  advance  without  his  fellows.  The 
day  is  not  far  distant  when  all  noxious, 
ferocious,  venomous  beasts  will  be  ex- 
tinct, but  man  will  grow  ever  gentler 
to  man,  &  as  he  does  so  his  gentleness 
will  overflow  to  the  beasts  and  so  far 
as  possible  the  gentler  beasts  that  can 
be  permitted  to  remain  will  be  treated 
with  love  &  kindness  and  the  habit  of 
eating  them  will  die  out.  But  this  is 
not  3'et  &  to  force  the  time  is  not  wise." 
There  was  quite  a  round  of  applause 
and  then  James  Harvard  rose  to  speak. 
What  a  contrast  he  was,  clean-shaven, 
dressed  in  the  height  of  fashion,  elegant 
and  polished,  to  the  two  splendid  demi- 
savages  who  had  preceeded  him.  Karl 
glowered  at  him,  under  heavy  brows, 
like  a  troglodyte  of  the  Stone  Age;  but 
Forrest,  handsome,  easy,  muscular,  semi- 
nude,  his  head  twined  with  a  chaplet 
of  leaves  like  an  ancient  Greek,  reclined 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  165 

on  the  dais  and  looked  smilingly  up  at 
him,  for  they  were  old  &  warm  friends. 
"My  dear  Comrades,"  said  Harvard, 
"I,  too,  claim  to  be  a  natural  man  and 
a  simplicist,  but  these  things  take  on 
larger  meanings  in  my  mind  than  with 
the  speakers  who  have  preceded  me. 
I  believe  heartily  in  evolution;  I  accept 
the  supremacy  of  man;  and  I  accept 
the  Modern  Age  and  believe  that  logic- 
ally, when  completed,  it  will  be  the 
best  of  all.  It  is  not  ripe  yet,  that  is 
what  we  fault  in  it,  for  unripness  is  al- 
ways crude  and  unpalatable.  It  will 
leave  out  nothing  that  was  valuable  in 
the  past,  while  adding  its  own  most 
important  contributions.  Like  Forrest, 
then,  I  believe  it  is  natural  for  man  to 
evolute,  use  tools,  &  combine  materials 
in  creative  work  and  therein  this  age 
is  also  natural.  This  is  the  Age  of 
Machinery,  that  is  its    distinction,  and 


1 66  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

there  is  nothing  abnormal  about  ma- 
chinery. Kropotkin  is  right  when  he 
says  our  present  kilHng  servitude  to  the 
machine  4s  a  matter  of  bad  organization, 
purely,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
machine  itself;'  and  Oscar  Wilde  is 
right  when  he  claims  that  the  machine 
is  the  helot  on  which  our  future  civili- 
zation shall  rise.  The  steam  engine  is 
as  natural  a  product  as  a  bird's  nest 
and  as  normal  a  tool  as  Karl's  flint. 
There  are  many  beautiful  features  in 
Comrade  Karl's  life  but  it  would  stop 
us  at  the  threshold  of  the  Stone  Age, 
and  that  can  never  be.  You  are  mostly 
disciples  of  Forrest,  and  a  very  happy, 
wholesome,  sweet  life  you  live  here,  I 
own,  and  a  most  needed  reproof  you 
give  the  faults  of  the  outer  world,  but 
still  you  are  wrong  in  your  dislike  of 
machinery. 

You  think  machinery  is  complex  and 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  167 

you  want  simplicity,  but  let  me  tell 
you  what  I  think  about  that.  In  evolu- 
tion simplicity  is  attained  in  successive 
stages.  Progress  is  rhythmic,  in  cycles, 
and  as  life  progresses  it  reaches  out 
and  includes  more  than  previously,  not 
uniformly  and  continuously,  but  in  suc- 
cessive periods  of  growth  and  ripening, 
of  start  and  finish.  There  are  some 
very  ugly  stages  at  the  beginning  of 
every  new  cycle;  when  the  house  is 
building  the  struggle  is  very  full  of 
stress,  materials  stubbornly  resist  assim- 
ilation, and  every  thing  is  disagreeably 
complex,  but  after  a  while  the  new  ar- 
rangements of  materials  and  forces  are 
all  smoothly  adopted  and  coordinated 
and  then  a  new  stage  of  simplicit}-  is 
reached.  When  the  house  is  finished 
it  looks  as  simple  as  a  rock.  You  think 
a  man  is  simple,  but  when  you  study 
his  structure    you    begin  to  think   him 


1 68  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

infinitely  complex.  What  we  can  do 
and  use  and  fit  to  without  conscious  ef- 
fort or  thought  is  what  we  call  simple 
but  there  was  once  a  time  when  it 
seemed  painfully  difficult  and  complex. 
Thru  complexity  to  new  simplicity, 
then,  is  the  order  of  evolution,  which 
ever  advances  in  spirals,  or  cycles  of 
progress,  returning  as  it  were  to  the 
starting  point  of  simplicity,  but  ever  on 
a  new  &  higher  plane  than  previously. 

We  are  passing  thru  such  a  cycle  of 
progress  in  industry  and  society,  just 
now,  and  we  feel  very  severely  the 
struggle,  &  all  life  seems  full  of  wheels 
and  pulleys  and  cords  &  scaffolds  and 
jostling  workmen.  But  by  and  by  all 
this  will  settle  down  and  life  will  be  as 
simple,  natural  and  serene  as  in  Arcadia. 

You  delight  in  hand-labor  and  I  fully 
agree  with  you  as  to  its  artistic  prefer- 
ability,  but  when   you  come  to    use  it 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  169 

for  many  of  the  pra6tical  works  of  life 
it  is  by  comparison  a  failure.  And  here, 
my  friends,  is  where  the  new  age  will 
advance  us  and  simplify.  I  prophesy 
that  the  new  age  will  apply  machinery 
to  all  the  drudgery  of  daily  work,  and 
do  it  vastly  better  and  faster  and  easier 
and  cheaper  than  it  could  possibly  be 
done  by  hand;  and  this  will  liberate  an 
immense  amount  of  time  and  himian- 
force  now  employed  distastefully  upon 
it.  A  great  deal  of  human  work  can- 
not possibly  be  made  artistic  and  this 
dish-washing  and  scrubbing  and  wood- 
chopping  of  life  can  better  be  done 
by  machines.  Then  all  this  released 
human  energy  will  have  a  chance  to 
be  employed  on  the  handwork  which 
can  be  artistic.  So  I  prophesy  that  when 
the  Machine  Age  is  fully  ripened  we 
shall  not  only  be  altogether  released 
from  drudgery,  and  the  stupid  lines  of 


170  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

work,  but  there  will  be  vastly  more 
artistic  hand  work  done,  and  by  more 
individuals,  than  is  any  way  possible 
now.  Those  who  fear  that  the  machine 
will  ever  supercede  the  artistic  hand  are 
foolish  and  those  who  think  the  hand 
can  remove  the  machine  are  equally  so. 
The  machine  is  the  friend  of  the  hand 
and  has  come  to  help  it  and  to  liberate 
it  for  higher  uses.  Have  you  never 
noticed  that  when  the  hand  workers  on 
some  line  are  ousted  by  some  machine, 
those  very  workers  naturally  go  to  an- 
other line  of  the  same  sort  of  work,  but 
always  on  a  higher  plane,  requiring  more 
taste  &  intellect  and  manipulative  skill 
than  that  from  which  the  machine  drove 
them?  In  competition  with  the  machine 
the  man  rises,  he  cannot  do  otherwise, 
for  there  is  no  place  for  him  below  and 
that  forced  rise  makes  the  machine  a 
blessing  to  him.     Nor  can  the  man  be 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  171 

ever  dominated  by  the  machine  for  it 
is  made  by  him  and  for  him  and  inevi- 
tably he  will  be  above  it  &  use  it  for 
his  own  benefit.  It  cannot  survive  save 
it  serve  him.  So  there  is  nothing  to 
fear  from  the  machine  and  nothing  but 
good  can  ever  come  from  it,  and  every- 
thing that  now  opposes  it  will  be  ben- 
efited by  it. 

Another  chara6leristic  of  this  age  is 
its  social  machinery.  Never  were  men 
so  coordinated  and  cooperated  as  now, 
never  was  there  such  universality,  in- 
tricacy and  complexity  of  organization. 
It  is  this  that  you  are  more  opposed  to 
than  even  the  machine  of  wood  &  iron, 
but  it  is  all  a  part  of  the  age  and  its 
evolution  and  has  come  to  stay,  and 
in  the  end  it  is  just  as  advantageous 
as  the  machine  of  wheels  and    levers. 

But  3'Ou  stand  for  liberty  and  here 
indeed  you  are  right  &  here  I  am  with 


172  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

you.  It  is  not  the  machine  that  works 
evil,  but  the  forced  machine,  and  that 
force  selfishness,  that  hurts  you.  The 
evil  is  precisely  in  the  element  of  com- 
pulsion. Selfishness  is  to  have  your  own 
pleasure  at  another  man's  expense,  even 
if,  in  your  opinion,  it  is  all  for  his  ben- 
fit.  Man  must  be  free;  nothing  benefits 
him  till  he  freely  consents.  If  Karl,  here, 
forced  you  to  use  only  flints  or  if  For- 
rest forced  vou  all  to  dress  as  little  as 
he,  you  would  find  it  as  great  an  evil 
as  if  I  forced  vou  to  use  a  machine  or 
to  work  together  in  a  certain  way. 

It  isn't  the  machine  or  the  organiz- 
ation, remember  that,  but  the  spirit  be- 
hind these  that  grinds  men.  When  man 
is  free  he  is  above  his  tool  and  when 
man  is  kind  he  will  never  use  his  tool 
as  a  weapon  of  offence,  therefore  where 
man  is  free  &  kind  he  is  bound  to  use 
all  tools  (and  social  organization  is  only 


The  Dwellers  l\  Vale  Sunrise  173 

a  tool )  for  liis  own  good  and  the  equal 
good  of  all  and  that  is  the  whole  of  it. 
Where  men  are  left  free  they  are  cer- 
tain to  use  the  tools  best  adapted  in  their 
judgment  to  attain  their  ideals  &  gratify 
their  desires,  and  that  means  the  ever 
increasing  use  of  machines  in  human 
labor  and  the  ever  increasing  intricacy, 
complexity  &  unity  of  human  organiza- 
tion &  cooperation  in  social  action  and 
relation.  But  where  this  is  all  free  it 
is  natural,  the  parts  quickly  coordinate, 
and  there  soon  comes  a  feeling  of  ease 
and  simplicity.  A  man  is  himself  a  tre- 
mendously intricate  &  complex  machine, 
but  he  is  so  used  to  his  parts,  &  their 
relation  and  coa(5tion,  that  he  feels  as 
simple  as  a  stick.  And  so  in  time  we 
shall  attain  a  social  organization  so  com- 
plete, united  &  perfe6tly  integrated  that 
it  will  seem  almost  as  simple  as  a  single 
man  and  no  unit  will  feel  it  abnormal 
or  himself  restrained. 


174  ^^^  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 


Will  this  repress  individuality?  Not 
at  all.  It  will  increase  it.  Now  a  man 
works  the  greater  part  of  his  working 
hours  in  drudgery  and  dreary  toil,  and 
only  has,  now  &  then,  an  hour  to  him- 
self to  be  himself  and  live  his  own  life. 
Likely  has  so  little  time  to  himself  that 
the  desire  to  be  himself  almost  com- 
pletely atrophies  and  he  conforms  in 
every  way  to  the  conventions.  But 
when  this  machine  of  social  organiza- 
tion, which  you  unwittingly  hate,  is 
perfected,  all  the  monotonous,  every- 
day, unindividualized  work  will  be  done 
so  simply,  economically,  satisfactorily, 
in  so  short  a  time,  that  all  the  rest  will 
be  spare  time,  which  each  man,  free 
from  di6lation  or  care  of  any  kind,  can 
spend  in  his  own  way,  in  a  perfe(?tion 
of  leisure  undreamed  of  by  even  the 
richest  at  present.  You  already  know- 
something  of  that  here.  It  will  be  vastly 


The  Dwellers  l\  Vale  Sunrise  175 

more  perfect  then.  Such  a  life  v/ill  be 
very  simple  to  the  units.  Such  a  social 
machine  will  be  so  vast,  smoothlv  run- 
ning,  w^ell-oiled,  that  each  little  cog  will 
have  a  very  simple  v/ork  to  do  in  the 
brief  working  period,  and  the  rest  of 
the  day  will  be  a  real  individual,  as 
different  as  he  pleases  from  all  the 
rest.  This  is  the  natural  and  simple 
life  which  our  evolution  is  building  for 
us  and  the  future  will  reveal." 

This  speech  was  roundly  applauded 
and  then  we  all  came  home. — Why! — 
it  is  long  after  midnight!  I  must  get 
to  bed. 


Good  night! 


Felton. 


CHAPTER  XV 


1 

^ 

i 

Y  good  Hillford: 

You  delight  me  with 
your  half-promise  to  come  & 
see  Vale  Sunrise  with  a  view 
to  joining  the  Tribe.  I  always  thought 
I  should  draw  you  in,  but  I  never  spoke 
of  it,  for  I  have  learned  from  these  peo- 
ple the  wisdom  of  not  dire6lly  persuad- 
ing a  man,  but  of  setting  before  him  a 
truthful  spread  of  facSfs  &  theories  and 
then  lea\ing  him  to  freely  select  his 
own.  A  man's  life  should  be  from 
//  litis  elf  out  w  ar  d . 

But  I  am  a  happy  man  anywa}^,  for 
I  have  been  admitted,  all  unexpe6fedly, 
to  full  membership  before  the  expira- 
tion of    my  probation.     It    is    a    great 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  177 

compliment.  ^It  seems  a  secret  ballot 
was  taken  and  it  was  decided  to  admit 
me  at  once.  This  is  a  strong  proof  of 
general  love  and  contidence  and  I  feel 
it  deeply.  The  chiefs  came  to  me  and 
acquainted  me  with  the  decision  &  told 
me  that  on  the  ist  day  of  061.,  if  the 
weather  was  hne  I  should  be  initiated. 
Then  they  took  me  to  the  community 
herd  and  asked  me  to  sele6l  my  horse, 
for  every  new  member  is  given  one. 
I  picked  out  a  beautifully  dappled  iron- 
gra}',  with  a  broad  brow  and  a  gentle 
eye,  who  came  up  to  me  trustfully  as 
I  was  looking  at  the  herd  and  nibbled 
an  apple   from  my  hand. 

"I  choose  this  one  for  he  seems  to 
have  chosen  me,"  I  said. 

So  they  asked  me  to  name  him,  &  I 
called  him  Cirrus,  because  of  his  cloudy 
skin,  and    they  said   Cirrus  was    mine. 

Then  they  told  me  to  pick  out  an  acre 


178  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

of  land  far  my  house-lot,  and  I  chose 
that  one  which  happened  to  be  vacant 
just  beyond  Planer's,  at  the  point  of  the 
ridge,  a  terribly  wild  rough  bit,  but  with 
a  lovely  view  of  the  Vale,  and  of  Cave- 
Gables,  and  of  the  little  lake  Forrest 
had  made,  which  I  had  long  coveted. 
Then  they  asked  me  to  plan  my  house 
and  when  I  had  drawn  the  plans  they 
set  all  who  could  be  spared  at  the  work 
and  in  a  few  days  my  little  cottage  was 
built  by  loving,  friendly  hands  before 
my  eyes,  and  everybody  seemed  as  glad 
to  build  it  for  me  as  I  was  glad  to 
have  it  built. 

I  wish  you  could  see  it,  Hillford.  I 
am  as  pleased  as  a  child.  When  I  was 
a  boy  I  was  always  dreaming  of  sim- 
ple, peasant-like  little  cottages  and  now 
my  dream  is  made  real.  It  is  of  rough 
stone,  with  massive  walls,  a  tile  roof, 
dormer  windows,  and  plastered  gables 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  179 

showing  the  timbers  in  EHzabethan 
style.  It  is  one  &  a  half  stories  high, 
and  the  upper  part  projec6ts  a  foot  or 
two,  and  there  are  deep  eaves  where 
the  swallows  can  build,  &  all  the  win- 
dows are  lattice,  casement  windows,  & 
there  are  chimney-pots,  and  a  knocker 
on  the  front  door,  &  a  little  stone  porch. 
Inside  there  are  wide  tire-places,  and 
Planer  has  superintended  all  the  wood- 
work and  says  she  is  going  to  make 
all  the  furniture.  But  gifts  of  love 
from  special  friends  come  in,  all  the 
time  and  make  me  feel  how  many 
like  me  here.  Drawings,  sketches  and 
paintings,  bits  of  sculpture  &  carvings, 
autograph  books  &  poems,  hand-made 
rugs  &  couch-covers,  presented  by  the 
makers,  are  already  making  my  peas- 
ant's cot  an  artist's  dream.  A  generous 
Scandinavian  fresco-painter  has  painted 
the  walls  of  my  sittino^  room  with  beauti- 


i8o  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 


ful  woodland  scenes — evergreen  groves 
where  the  rough  trunks,  green  branches 
and  brown  needles  below  seem  real 
enough  to  touch,  and  you  almost  expert 
the  chick-a-dees  among  the  cones  to 
salute  you.    And  all  a  labor  of  love. 

Planer  and  I  visit  back  &  forth  and 
have  great  delight  in  being  each  other's 
guests.  She  has  set  apart  a  portion  of 
her  big  work-room  for  me  and  there  I 
do  my  carving.  We  work  together  now, 
and  I  carve  and  ornament  the  furniture 
she  makes  when  customers  so  desire. 
I  love  her  more  and  more  every  day. 

But  I  must  tell  you  of  my  initiation. 

06tober  ist  was  a  beautiful  mild  day, 
and  we  all  went  to  the  Council  House 
dressed  in  our  best,  for  an  initiation  is 
a  general  holiday. 

This  is  the  ceremony: 

I  was  placed  on  the  dais,  with  For- 
rest sitting  beside  me  and    the  people 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  i8i 

sitting  as  in  council.     Forrest  rose  and 
taking  me  by  the  hand  said: 

"My  brothers,  my  sisters,  I  present 
to  your  love  and  confidence  our  new 
brother." 

The  people  rose  and  answered,  lifting 
the  left  hand: 

"Brother,  we  receive  you!" 
Then  I  stood  up  and  said: 
"My  brothers,  my  sisters,  I  have  an 
ideal  of  how  a  man  should  live  with  his 
fellows,    generously,    peaceably,    help- 
fully, not  interfering,  not   invading  —  I 
promise  to  live  up  to  it." 
The  people  answered: 
"We  hear  you,  we  will  help  you!" 
"My  brothers,  my  sisters,  I  have  an 
ideal  of  how  a  lover  should  treat    the 
one  beloved,  without  impurity,  without 
jealousy,    without    deception,    without 
claims  of  ownership — tenderly,  consid- 
erately, trustworthily — I  promise  to  live 
up  to  it." 


1 82  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

"We  hear  you,  we  will  help  you!" 
"My  brothers,  my  sisters,  I  have  an 
ideal  of  how  every  adult  should  treat  a 
child,  without  insult,  without  discour- 
agement, without  violence;  respectfully 
as  one  who  would  learn,  tactfully  as  one 
who  would  teach,  watchfully  as  one 
who  would  prote6l — I  promise  to  live 
up  to  it." 

"We  hear  3'ou,  we  will  help  you!" 
"My  brothers,  my  sisters,  I  have  an 
ideal  of  how  a  man  should  do  his  work 
—  industriously  as  one  not  wasting  the 
time,  honestly  as  one  satisfying  his  con- 
science, lovingly  as  one  achieving   the 
ideal — I  promise  to  live  up  to  it." 
"We  hear  you,  we  will  help  you!" 
"My  brothers,  my  sisters,  I  promise 
in  every  part  of  my  life  to  set  before 
me  as  my  pra6lical  religion,  my  Ideal 
of  the  Best  and  earnestly  &  sincerely 
will   I  endeavor  to  live  up  to  it." 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  183 

"We  hear  yon,  we  will  help  you!" 
"M}^  brothers,  my  sisters,  I  wish  to 
be  one  with  you  in  free,  equal,  help- 
ful brotherhood;  serving  you  with  all 
my  powers,  loving  you  as  I  love  my- 
self, doing  to  you  as  I  would  have  you 
do  to  me." 

"You  are  welcome,  we  receive  you!'' 

"In  joy  and  in  pain,  in  health  and  in 

sickness,  in  strength  and  in  weakness, 

in  life   and    in  death,  I    hold    you    my 

brothers,  my  sisters." 

"In  joy  and  in  pain,  in  health  and  in 
sickness,  in  strength  &  in  weakness,  in 
life  &  in  death  we  hold  you  brother!" 
All  (singing): 

Where  faith  is  free  the  soul  is  glad — 
Where    thought  is    free   the   brain  is 

glad — 
Where  love  is  free  the  heart  is  glad — 
Where  work  is  free  the  hand  is  glad — 
Whese  life  is  free  the  man  is  glad — 


184  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

Life  !     Life  !     Life  ! 
L  ib  e  rty  !     Li  be  rty  ! 
Forever  tve  are  free! 

Then  Forrest  rose  again  &  stepping 
to  me  said: 

"My  brother,  I  give  you  my  left  hand 
in  affe6lion,  my  right  hand  in  helpful- 
ness &  prote6lion.  As  you  would  have 
your  brothers  treat  you,  so  treat  you 
them,  respe(?ting  their  ideals,  holding 
their  freedom  &  happiness  sacred,  lov- 
ing them  as  you  love  yourself.  Leave 
all  bitterness  &  fear  out  of  your  heart 
and  live  true  to  your  Vision  of  the  Best.'' 

Then  one  after  the  other,  commenc- 
ing with  the  chiefs  and  ending  with  the 
little  children,  the  people  came  up  and 
gave  me  their  two  hands  crossed  (right 
to  right  and  left  to  left,  which  is  the 
tribal  grip)   and   said: 

"You  are  welcome,  brother!'' 

I  cannot  remember  any  ceremony  in 


The  Dwellers  ln  Vale  Sunrise  185 

all  my  life,  religious  or  social,  that  ever 
affe6led  me  so  profoundly.  It  all  seemed 
so  real,  so  deeply  sincere  &  loving,  such 
a  sacrament  &  communion  of  brotherly 
sympathy  and  kindness  that  I  w^as  af- 
fe6led  almost  to  tears  and  when  the  last 
little  baby  toddled  up  and  gave  me  its 
little  crossed  hands  and  lisped  out  its 
message,  I  picked  it  up  and  kissed  it. 

And  then  they  brought  up  my  beau- 
tiful Cirrus,  with  a  new  saddle  &  bridle 
of  finest  workmanship,  and  placed  me 
on  him,  and  placed  Planer  on  her  horse 
to  ride  beside  me  and  then  everybody 
took  horse  &  rode  behind  us  and  es- 
corted us  to  my  cottage. 

And  there  a  great  feast  was  spread 
and  the  whole  day  the  Tribe  spent  in 
sport-making  and  joy  till  sweet  Night 
came  to  the  earth. 

Your  happy 

Felton. 


/ 


1     CHAPTER  XVI 


N  the  preceding  chapters  I 
have  availed  myself  of  Mr. 
Felton's  kind  permission  to 
copy  a  number  of  his  old  let- 
ters, to  give  a  more  vivid  interior  view  of 
Vale  Sunrise  than  my  own  words  could 
afford.  But  when  Mr.  Hill  ford  himself 
became  a  member  of  the  Tribe  these 
letters  ceased,  and  so  all  I  can  do  now 
is  to  give  in  as  brief  a  form  as  possible 
a  summary  of  events  at  Vale  Sunrise 
from  that  time  to  the  present. 

Soon  after  Felton  became  a  full  mem- 
ber, as  described  in  his  last  letter,  James 
Harvard  gave  a  series  of  lectures  at 
Vale  Sunrise,  and  these  lectures,  and 
the  long  and  comradely  discussions  that 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  187 

followed,  produced  very  important  re- 
sults. They  produced  a  coalescence  of 
the  ideals,  so  to  speak,  of  Forrest's 
gioup  and  Harvard's  group,  so  that  after 
due  consideration  the  two  Tribes  merg- 
ed into  one  and  it  is  onl}'  truth  to  sa}' 
that  in  this  Tribe  Harvard  (under  the 
new  Tribal-name  of  "Freeman  Worth) 
became  the  leading  spirit  and  admitted 
chieftain. 

It  became  fully  recognized  that  his 
ideas  of  the  value  of  machinery  to  do 
the  less  artistic  work  of  life  were  sound, 
and  need  not  coniiict  with  the  ideas 
previously  held  of  the  beaut}^  of  sim- 
plicity and  artistic  hand-production.  A 
kind,  brainy  man,  magnetic  as  a  leader, 
clear-viewed,  scientific,  well-informed 
on  all  topics,  with  a  marvelous  power 
to  enthuse  and  unite  men  in  cooperation, 
his  influence  soon  became  predominant 
and  bore  fruit  everywhere.    Forrest  had 


r88  The  Dwellers  ln  Vale  Sunrise 


been  beloved  and  followed  but  had  no 
genius  for  superintending  others  or 
desire  to  organize,  but  Freeman,  as  we 
must  now  call  him,  was  a  natural  su- 
perintendent and  organizer  of  industr}'. 

One  of  the  first  results  of  the  evolu- 
tion was  that  practically  all  the  employ- 
ees of  the  department  store  in  the  city 
took  up  their  residence  in  Vale  Sunrise, 
going  back  and  forth  morning  and  night, 
the  city  hotel  being  sold. 

These  trips  were  made  in  automobiles 
and  a  factory  was  erected  on  the  margin 
of  the  Vale  Sunrise  domain,  near  Rip- 
pleford,  to  make  automobiles  and  auto- 
mobile freight- wagons.  By  means  of 
these  automobiles  not  only  could  the 
employees  travel  back  and  forth,  swiftly 
and  comfortably,  but  the  freight- wagons 
carried  to  the  city  all  surplus  produce 
from  the  farms  and  gardens,  and  work- 
shops  of   Vale    Sunrise,    and    brought 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  189 

back  all  needed  imports  from  the  city. 
More  land  was  bought  near  Rippleford 
and  all  the  factories  formerly  belonging 
to  Harvard's  group  were  transplanted 
there  and  more  erected.  In  these  fac- 
tories, as  much  as  possible,  all  the  things 
sold  in  the  city  department  store  were 
made,  and  the  men  who  worked  there 
had  their  homes  on  the  hills  about 
Vale  Sunrise,  working  only  part  of  the 
day,  with  the  rest  of  the  time  for  them- 
selves. The  work,  however,  being  done 
in  shifts,  was  often  almost  continuous. 
Having  their  own  means  of  transporta- 
tion the  members  were  largely  indepen- 
dent of  the  railroads  and  express  com- 
panies and  where  they  did  need  outside 
products  their  large  orders  carried 
weight  and  compelled  respect.  Selling 
as  near  cost  as  sound  business  prudence 
and  foresight  would  warrent  they  drew 
custom  from  all    by  the    cheapness  of 


190  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

their  wares,  and  held  the  trade  thus 
attracted  by  the  imdeviating  honesty  of 
all  their  dealings  and  the  guaranteed 
exellence  of  all  their  work.  At  first 
there  was  bitter  war  waged  against  them 
by  other  manufacturers  and  dealers,  but 
as  they  supplied  nearly  all  their  own 
needs  they  were  hard  people  to  fight 
and  the  public  being  in  sympathy  with 
their  ideals  and  methods,  which  were 
everywhere  frankly  explained,  refused 
to  boycott  but  rather  everyway  aided 
them  until  their  competitors  in  despair 
were  forced  to  adopt  similar  tactics, 
colonize  and  communize  their  workers, 
share  with  them,  and  sell  near  cost; 
the  result  being  the  formation  of  a  great 
many  new  Tribes  on  nearly  similar 
lines,  cooperating  rather  than  competing 
with  Freeman's  group  and  exchanging 
products  with  him.  Lecturers  were  sent 
out,  literature  printed,  and  at  this  writ- 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  191 

ing  a  powerful  propaganda  is  being 
waged  to  make  this  movement  national 
and  even  international. 

And  in  Vale  Sunrise  itself  chancres 
were  marked,  especially  in  agriculture. 
First  all  the  arable  lands  were  ditched 
and  drained  b}^  machinery,  swamps 
drained,  impeding  rocks  blasted  out,  ter- 
races built,  roads  made  perfect.  Then 
great  machine-plows  and  earth-mixers 
went  over  all  the  fields,  subsoiling  them, 
turning-up,  mixing  &  blending  the  soils, 
and  sifting  out  every  stick  and  stone 
and  impediment,  till  all  was  fine  as 
garden  mould  and  penetrable  by  the 
tenderest  roots.  Then  wind-mills  went 
up,  with  pumps  to  irrigate  fields  and 
gardens  when  needed.  Great  fertilizer- 
sheds  were  built  where  every  kind  of 
refuse  whatever  was  converted,  by  the 
best  scientific  means,  into  available  fer- 
tilizer, the  old  hog-mixing  process  be- 


igz  The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

ing  now  no  more.  Green-houses  were 
built  to  produce  early  plants  and  winter 
vegetables  and  flowers,  and,  in  brief, 
the  whole  community-farm  was  con- 
verted into  a  model-farm  with  every 
benefit  and  aid  that  modern  science 
could  suggest  to  create  certain  and  in- 
tensive production. 

In  the  community  kitchen  the  same 
methods  were  introduced,  and  most  of 
the  cooking,  dish-washing,  scrubbing, 
and  laundrv  work  were  done  with  little 
use  of   hands. 

Everywhere  the  hard,  disagreeable, 
monotonous,  uninspiring  labor  was  turn- 
ed over  to  machines  and  the  people 
liberated  to  the  more  brainv  and  artistic 
tasks  and  to  cultured  leisure. 

Finding  diflEiculty  in  getting  the  need- 
ed machinery  made,  owing  to  the  jeal- 
ousy of  the  trusts,  Freeman  secured  the 
cooperation  of  some  friendly  capitalists, 


The  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise  193 

went  to  Pennsylvania,  bought  a  coal- 
mine and  an  iron-mine,  built  the  neces- 
sary iron-works  and  machine-shops  and 
proceeded  to  make  his  own  machines, 
colonizing  his  workmen  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, even  as  in  Vale  Sunrise. 

There  was  now  no  difficulty  about 
getting  members.  The  workmen  of  the 
country  were  enthused,  &  clamored  for 
and  almost  demanded  admittance.  The 
difficulty  was  rather  to  keep  up  the  old 
rigid  system  of  probation  and  select 
only  the  fit  material  for  colony-life  and 
to  get  land  and  employment  and  super- 
intendents for  the  incomers. 

But  Freeman  Worth  was  a  born  gen- 
eral and  selected  his  lieutenants  with  an 
intuitive  accuracy  that  seldom  failed. 
As  fast  as  possible  he  trained  men  for 
superintendency  in  his  system,  picked 
out  a  wise  man,  gave  him  a  gang  of 
true  and  lo3'al  workmen,  and  sent  them 


194  "f'HE  Dwellers  in  Vale  Sunrise 

out  somewhere  as  the  nucleus  of  a  new 
Tribe.  And  these  new  chiefs  worship- 
ped him  as  Napoleon  was  worshipped 
by  his  marshals.  He  was  fighting  a 
world-war  for  their  emancipation  and 
elevation  to  all  human  dignities  and 
values,  and  they  knew  it  and  loved  him 
and  would  have  died  for  him. 

And  all  the  time  the  old,  sweet  syl- 
van, half-savage  and  wholly  poetic  sim- 
plicity prevailed  in  Vale  Sunrise  and 
spread  like  an  atmosphere  thro'  all  new 
Tribes.  When  not  working  for  the  com- 
munity the  members  painted,  carved, 
fiddled,  sang,  read,  argued,  loafed,  slept, 
made  art-furniture,  artistic  homes, 
dressed,  or  undressed  as  picturesquely 
as  they  pleased,  and  rode  their  pet  horses 
up  and  down  the  winding  rustic  roads. 

This  side  of  their  life  was  untouched 
and  rather  intensified. 

Forrest    Westwood    still    ran    bare- 


The  Dwellers  l\  Vale  Sunrlse  i 


95 


footed  along  the  hill  paths  &  twirled 
his  owl-plume  in  gay  content,  and  old 
Karl  still  grunted  and  squeaked  and 
whistled  with  his  four-footed  &  feath- 
ered friends  in  the  forest  and  glowered 
disdainfully  at  the  new  ways. 

And  so  Arcadia  had  come  again,  and 
the  old  &  the  new  were  fully  recon- 
ciled, the  savage  and  the  civilized;  the 
machine  and  the  hand-tool  were  friends 
and  allies  and  all  men  in  all  the  Tribes 
were  glad  and  healthy  brothers. 


THE    END. 


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